FILE
The doubling time of coronavirus cases in India has improved to 17.4 days currently from 15.4 days a couple of weeks ago, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday. The ministry said the doubling rate of COVID-19 cases was 3.4 days at the time the lockdown was imposed on March 25.
In 24 hours till Friday 8 am, 10,956 new coronavirus infections were recorded. India's COVID-19 caseload reached 2,97,535 while the death toll rose to 8,498 with a record single-day spike of 396 fatalities.
Recovery rate of COVID positive cases continues to increase and currently stands at 49.47 percent.
A total of 1,47,194 people have recovered while 1,41,842 patients are under active medical supervision. In the 24 hour period till 8 am, a total of 6,166 patients have been cured of COVID-19.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 53,63,445 samples have been tested so far, with 1,50,305 of them in the last 24 hours.
According to Worldometer, a website that records confirmed cases of infection and deaths globally, India on Thursday went past the United Kingdom to become the 4th worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Indian Council of Medical Research has ramped up testing capacity for detecting the novel coronavirus and a total of 877 laboratories -- 637 government and 240 private -- are presently operational in the country.
