Union Health Minister Dr. HarshVardhan said that the country has collectively fought against the viral pandemic to contain its effect. The minister, while making a statement in Lok Sabha today, regarding COVID and steps taken by government, informed that India has been able to contain the pandemic in an efficient manner. He said, the fatality rate in the country stands at nearly 1.65 per cent whereas the global  fatality rate  stands at around 3.2 per cent.<br />'' <br />''Dr. HarshVardhan said that only around 0.5 per cent of the COVID affected patients are on ventilator support and even less than 1 per cent are in need of  ICU support. He said, the government through its pre-emptive approach has been able to contain the number of cases at only around 3 thousand per million of the country's population. <br />''<br />''The Health Minister informed that the Group of Ministers and 11 other empowered groups along with timely interventions and reviews by the Cabinet Secretary ensured that decisions pertaining to medical emergency, quarantine, testing facilities and other factors were taken proactively. <br />