48% of Covid-19 deaths concentrated in 25 districts of 8 states: Health Min

About 48 per cent of total COVID-19 deaths in the country are concentrated in 25 districts of 8 states, out of which 15 districts are in Maharastra alone, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

Addressing a press briefing, Union Health Ministry Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said India has recorded the highest number of recoveries from COVID-19 at over 56 lakh and India has also conducted the second highest number of tests in the world at 8.10 crore.

"New recoveries have been more than new cases over the last two weeks. New cases being reported in last 14 days are below previous highs of 90,000 cases per day," Bhushan said.

Giving figures on COVID deaths, Bhushan said about 48 per cent of total COVID-19 deaths in the country are concentrated in 25 districts of 8 states.

"Out of these 25 districts, 15 districts are in one state alone that is Maharashtra. Two districts each are in Karnataka, West Bengal and Gujarat and one each in Tamil Nadu, Punjab, UP and Andhra Pradesh," Bhushan said.

He further said that the average daily COVID-19 positivity rate has declined from 9.21 per cent recorded between September 16-22 to 6.82 per cent registered from September 30 to October 6.

"Average daily new cases of COVID-19 have declined from 84,179 registered from September 2 to September 8 to 77,113 recorded between September 30 to October 6," he said.

"Ten states including Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh account for 77 per cent of the active cases in the country," he added.

Under the Rs 50 lakh insurance scheme for frontline healthcare workers engaged in COVID-19 duty, Bhushan said payments have been made in 95 cases, while 176 claims are under process.

"In 95 cases of death of frontline healthcare workers engaged in COVID-19 duty, insurance claim of Rs 50 lakh has been paid and 176 claims are being processed. In addition, 79 claims are yet to be received from different states," he said.