At 30 cases/lakh, India tally is ‘among lowest’
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 22
Virus gene found in India’s wastewater
New Delhi: Scientists in India have detected genetic material of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in wastewater, a breakthrough that paves the way for using wastewater-based epidemiology for surveillance of Covid-19. PTI
As Covid load today surged to 4,25,282 cases riding the daily spike of 14,821 new infections, the government cited new WHO data to say cases per lakh population in India were among the lowest globally.
The Ministry of Health referred to the global body’s latest situation report on the disease and said India was responding to the disease much better than many countries lesser populated than it.
Out of 88,07,398 confirmed cases worldwide, WHO region of the Americas accounts for the most 43,70,519, followed by Europe at 25,27,618; Eastern Mediterranean at 8,97,403; South-East Asia 5,80,533; Africa 2,24,673 and Western Pacific 2,05,911.
Among countries, the US leads the disease load charts with 22,41,178 cases, followed by Brazil 10,67,579, Russian Federation 5,84,680 and India at 4,25,282.
The WHO fresh situation analysis on Covid showed that where India’s cases per one lakh people were 30.04, the global average was 114.67.
Corresponding data for some other countries was the highest for the US at 671 cases, Germany 583, Spain 526 and UK 448. Iran and Italy also have much higher cases per one lakh people.
“Population is a major indicator when measuring disease performance and we are doing well on that. Our cases are lower when compared to our population,” the Health Ministry said.