NEW DELHI: India as on Thursday morning had 3,42,473 active COVID-19 cases but less than 70000 of the patients are in hospitals, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said in a statement.
"Almost 80% of the asymptomatic and mild cases have been advised home isolation under medical supervision," the statement added.
This is the first time the Centre has revealed the actual numbers of infected patients in home isolation.
In absolute numbers, 80 per cent of the present active cases turn out to be 273978, all of whom are isolating at home.
"The moderate and severe patients are being treated in either the dedicated COVID hospitals or dedicated COVID health centres," the government said.
It added that the strategy of home isolation for the mild and asymptomatic patients has ensured the hospitals remain unburdened, with the focus being on treatment of the severe cases and reduction of fatality.
The Centre also said that less than 1.94% of the cases are in ICUs, 0.35 % cases are on ventilators and 2.81 % cases are on oxygen beds.
In terms of actual numbers, this turns out to be nearly 6643 patients in ICU, about 1198 on ventilators and 9623 on oxygen beds across India.
The health ministry maintained that the country has followed a standard of care protocol for the differentiated categorisation of COVID-19 patients -- mild, moderate and severe -- as clearly formulated in the clinical management protocol of the infectious disease.
"The effective clinical management strategies have been shown to yield positive results," claimed the government.
A total of 31 lakh people, tracked through the contact tracing exercise are also under home quarantine -- figures released by the National Centre for Disease Control show.
ALSO SEE: