India's COVID-19 tally, fatality rate per million population lowest in world: Health ministry
New Delhi: India's total number of coronavirus cases and fatalities per million population is one of the lowest in the world, the Union health ministry said on Tuesday even as the country's infection tally went past the 7 lakh-mark and the death toll rose to 20,160.
Referring to the WHO Situation Report-168' dated July 6, the ministry said India's COVID-19 cases per million population is 505.37 as against the global average of 1,453.25.
Chile has witnessed 15,459.8 COVID-19 cases per million population, while Peru has 9,070.8 cases per million people.
The US, Brazil, Spain, Russia, the UK, Italy and Mexico have 8,560.5, 7,419.1, 5,358.7, 4,713.5, 4,204.4, 3,996.1 and 1,955.8 cases per million, respectively, according to the WHO report.
"The WHO Situation Report also shows that India has one of the lowest deaths (due to COVID-19) per million population. India's cases of death per million population is 14.27 while the global average is more than its four times, at 68.29," the ministry said.
The United Kingdom has 651.4 COVID-19 related deaths per million population, while the metric for Spain, Italy, France, the USA, Peru, Brazil and Mexico is 607.1, 576.6, 456.7, 391.0, 315.8, 302.3 and 235.5 deaths, respectively, the WHO report said.
India has ramped up its hospital infrastructure to adequately and effectively manage coronavirus cases, the ministry said. The preparedness includes the arrangement of oxygen support, ICU and ventilator facilities. As on July 7, there are 1,201 dedicated COVID hospitals, 2,611 COVID healthcare centres and 9,909 COVID care centres to look after patients with very severe' to very mild' coronavirus symptoms, it said.
"Such level of preparedness has shown results in continuously improving the recovery rate and resulting in low case fatality rate, the ministry said. "Early detection and timely effective clinical management of COVID-19 cases have resulted in increasing daily recoveries," it said.
During the last 24 hours, a total of 15,515 COVID-19 patients have been cured, taking the cumulative figure of recovered cases among COVID-19 patients in the country to 4,39,947 as on Tuesday.
"Coordinated efforts at all levels of the national and state governments for prevention, containment and management of COVID-19 are showing encouraging results with consistently increasing gap between recoveries and active cases. Presently, there are 2,59,557 active cases and all are under medical supervision.
As on date, the number of recovered cases exceeded that of the active cases by 1,80,390 on Tuesday. The recovery rate among COVID-19 patients has increased to 61.13 per cent, it said.
Enhanced focus on Test, Trace, Treat augmented with various measures has facilitated widespread COVID-19 testing by states and Union territories.
This has resulted in more than 2 lakh tests being conducted per day, the ministry said. It also said that during the last 24 hours, 2,41,430 samples have been tested.
With this, the total number of samples tested for COVID-19 nationwide stands at 1,02,11,092.
According to the health ministry, the testing lab network of the country continues to expand with more number of laboratories being added in various states and UTs. With 793 labs in the government sector and 322 private labs, there are as many as 1,115 labs in the country, it added
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Putin meets Iran's FM Araghchi, says Russia ready to do its best to help bring peace to West Asia
Moscow (PTI): Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday met Russian President Vladimir Putin, who hailed the Iranian people for fighting bravely and heroically for their sovereignty and said Moscow is ready to do its best to help bring peace to West Asia as soon as possible.
Araghchi, who held talks with Omani and Pakistani leadership before arriving in Russia, met Putin in St. Petersburg and thanked him for supporting Iran, state-owned TASS news agency reported.
"Russia is ready to do everything in its power to ensure that peace in the Middle East is achieved as soon as possible," Putin said during his meeting with Araghchi, which was also attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Revealing that he received a message from Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei last week, Putin asked Araghchi to convey his "gratitude for this message and best wishes for his health and well-being."
He praised the Iranian people for fighting "bravely and heroically" for their sovereignty, Iran's state-run PRESS TV reported.
"We really hope that, based on the courage and desire for independence, the Iranian people, under the guidance of the new leader, will weather this difficult period of trials and peace will come,” Putin said.
He also stressed that Russia “intends to maintain” its strategic relations with Iran.
Araghchi said that the world witnessed Iran’s strength in countering the US during the recent war, and that the Islamic Republic is a "stable and powerful establishment."
"With their courage, the Iranian people succeeded in resisting the US aggression and will be able to endure it,” he said.
He said that it became clear that Iran has “great friends and allies” like Russia, and conveyed “warmest greetings” from Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian to the Russian leader.
Araghchi said relations between Moscow and Tehran represent a “strategic partnership at the highest level” and will continue to develop "regardless of circumstances."
"We are grateful to you for the solid and strong positions in support of the Islamic Republic of Iran," he said.
Foreign Minister Lavrov said that the talks between President Putin and the Iranian Foreign Minister were "useful and constructive."
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov later said that Russia is "ready to provide any good offices, any mediation services that are acceptable to the parties."
"We will be ready to do everything so that ultimately peace ensues, guaranteed peace, and that there is no return to hostilities," Peskov was quoted as saying by TASS.
He was asked how Moscow can assist in future negotiations on the Iranian settlement.
Araghchi arrived in Russia after his whirlwind trip to Islamabad, which, according to him, was “very productive” and involved “good consultations" with Pakistan's Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, amid uncertainty over the second round of peace talks to resolve the war in West Asia.
"We held good consultations with our friends in Pakistan. The trip was successful. We assessed the outcome of our recent (meetings) and discussed in what direction and under what conditions talks can move on,” Araghchi said in a video posted on his Telegram channel upon his arrival in St Petersburg.
Referring to the second round of talks between the US and Iran to resolve the conflict in West Asia, Araghchi said: "Developments have taken place in the negotiations."
"Despite some progress in earlier rounds, the talks failed to reach their objectives due to the Americans' approach, the excessive demands they made, and the wrong approaches they adopted. Therefore, it was necessary to consult with our friends in Pakistan to review the latest situation,” Iran's official news agency IRNA quoted him as saying.
He said that the trip to Pakistan was a good opportunity to review developments related to the US-Israeli war against Iran, expressing confidence that “these consultations and coordination between the two countries will be highly significant.”
Araghchi arrived at St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport early Monday, where he was welcomed by Russian officials and Iran’s ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, the report said.
The first round of peace talks between Iran and the US, held on April 11 and 12, failed to bring the desired result for the parties to the conflict.
The Iranian minister arrived in Islamabad for the second time on Sunday after a short visit to Oman, where he held talks with Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said on security in the Strait of Hormuz and diplomatic efforts to end the Iran-US conflict.
After Araghchi left Pakistan for Oman on Saturday, President Donald Trump announced that US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would no longer be going to Islamabad for talks with Iran, contending that Washington held all the cards on the matter.
Trump on Sunday reiterated that the US and Iranian officials can talk by phone for a peace solution to the conflict.
On Tuesday, Trump extended the two-week ceasefire with Iran indefinitely to give Tehran more time to prepare a unified proposal to end the war, just hours before the truce was set to expire.
The war began when the US and Israel jointly attacked Iran on February 28, killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several top commanders. The retaliation by the Islamic Republic extended the war to the entire Gulf region.
