India has crossed 1 million coronavirus cases, third only to the United States and Brazil, prompting concerns about its readiness to confront an inevitable surge that could overwhelm hospitals and test the country's feeble health care system.
A surge of 34.956 new cases in the past 24 hours took the national total to 1,003,832.
The Health Ministry on Friday also reported a record number of 687 deaths for a total of 25,602. The ministry said the recovery rate was continuing to improve at 63%.
Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said Thursday less than 2% of COVID-19 patients are admitted to intensive care units (ICU) in India.
"India's fatality rate is 2.57 percent and recovery rate is 63.25 percent. Despite being such a largely populated nation, we can perhaps claim to have performed better than any other country," Vardhan said in a statement.
The eastern state of Orrisa announced a complete lockdown in Ganjam, Khordha, Cuttack, Jajpur districts and Rourkela Municipal Corporation area from July 17 to 31, according to a government order. Other states have also announced a lockdown in affected districts.
The coronavirus has spread to almost all states and union territories in India.
More than 13.7 million people have been infected and 589,211 have lost their lives to COVID-19 around the world, according to figures compiled by U.S.-based John Hopkins University. India is the third worst-affected country to follow the US and Brazil in COVID-19 cases.
