Covid-19 Factoid: India's daily tests nearly doubled in a week to 850,000

While Gujarat's Aravalli district has a case fatality rate of 7 per cent, the highest in the country, Karnataka has become the fourth Indian state to have more than 200,000 cases

The global count of confirmed coronavirus cases has now crossed 21 million; about half of these cases are in just three countries – the US, Brazil, and India. More than 6.3 million cases are currently active worldwide, almost 14 million people have made successful recoveries, and 758,120 people across all countries have succumbed to the disease so far.

In India, there now are 2.4 million reported coronavirus cases, of which 661,595 are currently active. The recovery rate in the country has now gone past 71 per cent, with over 1.7 million people having recuperated. India’s death toll stands at 48,040, which the fourth-highest in the world.

Here are some statistics on the spread of the virus:

1. India’s has ramped up its testing

India conducted almost 850,000 tests on August 13, the highest in a day till now. This was also a second straight day when more than 800,000 tests were conducted. The scale of testing in the past week has almost doubled, with over 600,000 tests conducted daily on many days. By comparison, the testing rate had been 300,000 to 400,000 a day in the previous week.

2. Gujarat’s Aravalli has the highest death rate in the country

The district of Aravalli in Gujarat has a case fatality rate of 7 per cent, the highest in the country. It is followed by Guna in Madhya Pradesh and Ahmedabad in Gujarat. Most districts with very high case fatality percentages are located in Tier-II regions. Mumbai, which has a case fatality rate of 5.5 per cent, is an exception.

3. Karnataka is the latest state to have more than 200,000 cases

The southern state of Karnataka has earned the grim distinction of becoming the fourth state in India to have over 200,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus. It recently reported its highest single-day spike of over 7,000 cases. Roughly 40 per cent of Karnataka’s reported cases are currently active, while the state’s death toll stands at over 3,600.