Even as India's COVID-19 caseload surged to 10,38,716 on Saturday, the Union health ministry said that the actual caseload in the country is only 3,58,692.
A health ministry official said: "As on July 18, the actual caseload of COVID in the nation is only 3,58,692. The number of recovered cases has further increased to 6,53,750. The difference between recovered and active cases is progressively growing. It stands at 2,95,058 today (Saturday). Medical attention is being provided to all the 3,58,692 active cases, either in-home isolation or in hospitals for severe cases," adding that the past 24 hours about 17,994 COVID-19 patients recovered and the national recovery rate is now 63 per cent.
Meanwhile, the Central government is supporting the state governments by sending central teams of experts to areas witnessing an increase in caseload, a health ministry official said.
"A central team has been deployed to Bihar to assist the state in the assessment of COVID management and to provide all necessary support. The team consists of Lav Agarwal, the joint secretary at the health ministry, Dr S K Singh, the Director, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC); and (Prof) Dr Neeraj Nischal at the medicine department of AIIMS (Delhi). The team will reach Bihar on July 19," informed the health ministry.
The central team will focus on containment strategy, house-to-house survey, perimeter control activities, timely contact tracing, surveillance of containment and buffer zones, clinical management of severe cases and health infrastructure, the official said.
The latest testing strategy of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) allows all registered medical practitioners to recommend testing.
In the past 24 hours, about 3,61,024 samples have been tested. Meanwhile, the cumulative number of 1,34,33,742 samples has been tested and it has raised the testing per million for India to 9734.6, the health ministry said.
In the fight against COVID-19, the government has issued guidelines for gated residential complexes desirous of setting up small COVID care facilities by resident welfare associations, resident societies and NGOs.
( With inputs from ANI )