Mortality rate remains low amid rising COVID-19 cases in country: AIIMS director

New Delhi [India], June 27 (ANI): On Saturday when the total coronavirus cases crossed 5 lakh, director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences here, Dr Randeep Guleria has said that mortality rate in the country remains low amid the rising cases of COVID-19.
Speaking to ANI on a day when the country reported its highest single-day spike of 18552 cases, Guleria said that although the number of cases has been rising, the rise is not as high as compared to those in other countries like in the US, which has reported a surge of 80,000 cases in the last two days.
Guleria said, "The number of cases is increasing. We can look at two things, one that this rise is not that high as compared to other countries. In the US, there has been almost 40,000 cases per day for two days. The other thing is the number of cases per million population continues to remain below. The most important thing is that we still continue to have low mortality. Considering the size of our population, the number of cases will be large in absolute terms. But if we are able to keep mortality down then it will be a big success for the country."
Earlier today Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said that the COVID-19 recovery rate has surged over 58 per cent in the country with around 3 lakh cured and discharged patients. "Our mortality/fatality rate is near 3 per cent which is very less. Our doubling rate has come down to nearly 19 days, which was 3 days before the lockdown," he said.
Meanwhile, the AIIMS director when asked about the rise in cases in Delhi said, "In Delhi, the cases are rising from hotspots and what we call containment zones. There has to be lot of responsibility on part of the people, local community leaders in these areas to make sure that people stay at home, isolate themselves, wear masks and social distancing."
"Unfortunately in these areas, people are not following social distancing. This is promoting the spread of the infection," he added.
The AIIMS director said that peak in infection rates in India will occur at different times in different parts of the country.
"If we see data from other cities like Pune and Ahmedabad, there the cases are declining meaning their peak has happened and the number of cases are coming down.
"On the other hand, in Delhi and Mumbai, the cases are still rising and will take few more weeks to get to the peak and the cases will fall then," he said.
"Over the next two to three months we shall see that all over the country the cases start coming down," he added.
India on Saturday crossed 5 lakh-mark with record highest spike of 18,552 cases of coronavirus reported in the country in the past 24 hours. The country has added more than 3.18 lakh COVID-19 cases since June 1. (ANI)