India’s case fatality rate among coronavirus disease patients has declined over the past month and is 2.82 per cent, the Union health ministry said on Tuesday releasing updated figures about the epidemic whose case counts are approaching 200,000.

A senior health official said the country’s case fatality rate fell from 3.30 per cent on April 15 to 3.20 per cent on May 3, 3.15 per cent on May 18 and 2.82 per cent on June 2. The official attributed the decline to timely efforts at case identification and clinical management.

India’s 2.8 per cent case fatality rate is among the lowest in the world, compared with the global average of 6.13 per cent or with 19 per cent in France, 16 per cent in Belgium, or 14 per cent in the UK.

Health authorities diagnosed 8,171 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, raising the country’s total confirmed cases to 198,706 of whom 97,581 patients are under medical supervision in hospitals or homes, 95,527 have recovered and 5,598 have died.

Only five cities account for over 47 per cent of Covid-19 deaths — Mumbai (1,097), Ahmedabad (764), Delhi (302), Thane (291) and Calcutta (191), according to health ministry data.

Around 38 per cent Covid-19 deaths have occurred in people aged between 60 and 74 years, the official said, underscoring the importance of protecting the elderly and other vulnerable patients as lockdown restrictions are eased across the country.

Another 12 per cent of Covid-19 deaths have occurred among people aged 75 years or older, the official said. People aged between 60 and 74 make 8 per cent while those above 75 years make up only 2 per cent of the country’s population.

Under health guidelines, the elderly, children below 10 years and other vulnerable people such as those with comorbidities — underlying health disorders — such as high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular disease or kidney disease have been urged to stay indoors except for essential needs.

Around 73 per cent of Covid-19 deaths in the country have occurred among patients with comorbidities, the health ministry data has shown, a pattern in line across the world where doctors have found people with comorbidities more likely to develop severe illness.

“This is not something peculiar with Covid-19 — we see this with other infections too,” said Raymond Savio, a senior critical care medicine specialist in Chennai. “A superposed infection on patients with underlying health disorder tilts the balance towards severe disease.”

Doctors say this makes it important for patients with underlying health disorders such as diabetes or kidney disease to take special care to manage their illness during epidemics.