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New Delhi, Jun 22: India's COVID-19 cases per lakh people is one of the lowest in the world despite its high population density, and the recovery rate has now reached almost 56 per cent, the Union Health Ministry said on Monday.

For every one lakh population, there are 30.04 coronavirus cases in India, while the global average is over three times at 114.67, the ministry said, referring to the WHO Situation Report 153, dated June 21.

“This low figure is thus a testimony to the graded, pre-emptive and pro-active approach the Government of India along with the states and UTs took for prevention, containment and management of COVID-19," the ministry said in a statement.

Citing the WHO Situation Report, the ministry said the US has 671.24 cases per lakh population, while Germany, Spain, Brazil and the UK have 583.88, 526.22, 489.42 and 448.86 cases per lakh population, respectively.

It said Russia has 400.82 cases per lakh people, while Italy, Canada, Iran and Turkey have 393.52, 268.98, 242.82 and 223.53, respectively.

Coming back to India, as on Monday morning, the total number of coronavirus cases stood at 4,25,282 and the death toll at 13,699, according to figures issued by the ministry.

In its update issued at 8 AM Monday, the ministry said 9,440 COVID-19 patients recovered in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of recoveries to 2,37,195, a recovery rate of 55.77 per cent.

Presently, there are 1,74,387 active cases and all are under medical supervision, it said.

"The difference between the recovered patients and the active COVID-19 cases continues to widen. Today, the number of recovered patients has crossed the number of active patients by 62,808," the ministry said.

The COVID-19 testing infrastructure is continuously being ramped up and number of government labs has been increased to 723 and the private labs to 262, adding up to a total of 985, it said.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, a total of 69,50,493 samples have been tested up to 21 June, 1,43,267 of them just on Sunday.

On Monday, the country added 14,821 new COVID-19 cases in a single day, pushing the tally to 4,25,282, while the death toll rose to 13,699 with 445 new fatalities reported till 8 am.

The country breached the four lakh-mark on Sunday, eight days after crossing three lakh COVID-19 cases. It has recorded 2,34,747 infections since June 1.

Monday was the 11th day in a row when the country registered over 10,000 cases.

New Delhi, May 3: Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Sunday said that India's COVID-19 mortality rate of 3.2 per cent is the lowest in the world and over 10,000 coronavirus patients have been discharged from hospitals after recovering from the disease so far.

"Today more than 10,000 COVID-19 patients have been discharged. Those still admitted at hospitals are on the road to recovery. If in last 14 days doubling rate was 10.5 days, then today it is around 12 days," the Minister told ANI after visiting Lady Hardinge Hospital.

"Our mortality rate of 3.2 per cent is the lowest in the world," he said.

With 2,644 more COVID-19 cases and 83 deaths in the last 24 hours, the number of people infected from coronavirus in the country has reached 39,980 including 1,301 deaths, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday.

Currently, there are 28,046 active cases while 10,633 COVID-19 positive patients have been cured/discharged.

Lucknow, Jul 19: The animal markets, which are usually bustling with activity ahead of Bakrid, are desolate this year.

The Covid-19 pandemic has shorn all festivals of public celebrations, and people are apprehensive that the tradition of animal sacrifice may be affected due to social distancing norms.

Also there is a massive drop in demand for sacrificial animals due to the financial impact of the crisis.

Chairman of All India Jamiat-ul-Quresh Sirajuddin Qureshi urged the government to come out with guidelines for carrying out the celebrations in the traditional way.

The festival will fall on July 31 or August 1. Buyers and sellers start thronging the animal markets almost two weeks ahead of the festival. But this year only a negligible number of buyers have turned up in animal markets in old Lucknow areas including Nakkhas, according to traders.

"It is very difficult to say as to what the government is thinking. 'Qurbani' is a matter of faith for the Muslims. We appeal to the government to deliberate and find a solution. This is a national problem, and our office bearers are speaking to different state governments," Qureshi said.

In the absence of guidelines, not many madrassas are buying animals for sacrifice, he said.

"The madrasas where collective 'qurbani' is done, are also not coming forward. In Bakrid, along with goats, buffaloes are also sacrificed. The government should ensure that people who are transporting the animals are not harassed by the police," Qureshi said.

Prominent Muslim cleric Khalid Rasheed Farang Mahali said he had raised the issue with the Uttar Pradesh chief minister.

"I have recently met Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath requesting him to issue guidelines for Bakrid. I am hopeful that the guidelines will be released soon," he said.

Rahat Ali, a goat trader from Rajasthan said, thousands of people will be affected due to the reduced demand for animals.

"The animal trade works in a chain involving farmers who rear animals, small traders and big traders.

"The traders buy the animals from the farmers. These are then sent to various states like Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. In the absence of demand, I did not purchase animals this year," he said.

Sajid, who supplies goats to various districts in western Uttar Pradesh, said the lockdown has affected the livelihood of people and not many have the money to buy animals for sacrifice.

"The lockdown has drained the people of their money. As a result, the animals are not getting sold," he said.

The Maharashtra government has come out with guidelines for Eid al-Adha, also known as Bakrid or Id-ul-Zuha, noting that there is a ban in place on all religious programmes and people should offer "namaz" in their homes and not in mosques.

It also said sacrificial animals should be bought online or over the phone as markets dealing with them will be closed, adding that "qurbani" should preferably be symbolic.

There will be no relaxation in restrictions for Eid in containment zones, and people are directed not to congregate in public places on the day of the festival, it added.