73% of COVID-19 deaths in India are people with co-morbidities: Govt

New Delhi, June 02: "73 per cent of COVID-19 deaths in India are people with co-morbidities," said Lav Agrawal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry while addressing the media on Tuesday.

Agarwal said that the fatality rate in India is 2.82 per cent, "one of the lowest in the world".

"10 per cent of India's population accounts for 50 per cent of India's COVID-19 linked deaths. 73 per cent of COVID-19 deaths in India are people with co-morbidities," he added.

"So far, 95,527 COVID-19 patients have recovered in the country. The recovery rate is now 48.07 per cent," he claimed.

"We have asked all states to analyse the trajectory of the cases in their respective states. If a state thinks that it needs to set up temporary COVID-19 care centres then it must do so," he added.

The novel coronavirus death toll rose to 5,598 in India on Tuesday with 204 more fatalities, while 8,171 new cases took the number of infections to over 1.98 lakh, the Health Ministry said.

The active cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) climbed to 97,581 and as many as 95,526 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, according to the data.

Around 48.07 per cent patients have recovered so far, a ministry official said.

Out of the 204 more deaths since Monday morning, 76 were in Maharashtra, 50 in Delhi, 25 in Gujarat and 11 in Tamil Nadu.

Eight people each died of COVID-19 in West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh, followed by six in Telangana, and four each in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.