Covid-19 Factoid: India's infection rate is showing an upward trend

While Rajasthan, at 57%, has the highest recovery rate among the 10 most affected Indian states, Punjab has the lowest at 9%

The global tally of confirmed coronavirus cases is now at 4,430,140, very close to breaching the 4.5 million mark. While the number of deaths worldwide is near the 300,000 mark, 1,661,473 have managed to overcome the infection so far. Badly affected countries like Spain and Italy are now showing steady improvements and reopening their economies as well.

However, in India, the numbers still seem to be on an ascent, with no clear signs of decline, even as we near the fourth phase of lockdown. There are now 78,194 confirmed cases in the country, 2,551 fatalities, and 26,400 recoveries.

Here are some statistics on the spread of the pandemic:

1. The UK has the highest proportion of active cases among most affected countries

Of the 4.36 million reported coronavirus cases across the world, more than half are still active and yet to see an outcome. Among the top 15 most affected countries, the UK has the highest proportion of active cases — 85 per cent of its 229,705 reported cases are yet to see an outcome. The UK is followed by Russia, with around 80 per cent of reported cases still active. The next is the US, where 72 per cent of reported cases are still active.

In Germany, which has so far reported 173,504 cases, only 10 per cent are currently active, the lowest among all. By comparison, 63 per cent of the 78,194 reported cases reported in India are yet to see an outcome.

2. Rajasthan has the highest recovery rate among 10 most affected Indian states

Among the 10 most affected Indian states, Rajasthan, which saw a rapid increase in confirmed cases in late April, has the highest percentage of recoveries in total cases. At present, 57 per cent of its reported cases have already recovered from coronavirus. It is followed by Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. In Maharashtra, with over 25,000 confirmed cases, the highest among all states, only 29 per cent of total cases have recovered so far. In Punjab, only 9 per cent of the 1,924 reported cases have seen a recovery, the lowest among all.

3. India’s Covid-19 infection rate is showing an upward trend

As India is ramping up testing, its infection rate —confirmed cases as a proportion of total tests conducted is also witnessing a marginal rise. The infection rate in India had dropped to 3.85 per cent early this month but it has again started showing an upward trend. As on date, India has conducted over 1.85 million tests, out of which 4 per cent of the samples have tested Covid-19 positive.