Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Friday took charge as the chairman of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Executive Board. Addressing the Board, the Minister highlighted the positives of India's Covid-19 situation.

"India has faced COVID-19 in a proactive and pre-emptive way, with unmatched scale and determination," Harsh Vardhan said. "Today we have a mortality rate of just 3% and, in a country of 1.35 billion, there are only one lakh cases. The recovery rate is above 40%, while the doubling rate is 13 days," the Minister added.

In a related piece of news, an official today said that active cases are concentrated only in a few states and cities/districts. "80% of active cases are in just 5 states, more than 60% cases are in just 5 cities. The spread of COVID-19 infection has remained limited to certain areas, this is no small achievement, also gives the confidence to open up other areas," the Empowered Group said.