India launches game urging COVID-appropriate behaviors

By Cheena Kapoor

NEW DELHI, India (AA) - India’s health minister launched an interactive first-of-its-kind game late Thursday on COVID-19 called the Corona Fighters which urges adherence to key COVID-appropriate behaviors.

“The game presents a new and extremely creative way to teach people the right tools and behaviors to fight the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Harsh Vardhan during the launch.

He said the game was designed to influence the players’ actions in the real world, reminding them to take the right precautions and escape
infection.

“This, along with two promotional videos, is a simply designed and enjoyable medium to get a serious message across to the wider public. Till we get a vaccine for fighting COVID-19, the COVID-appropriate behaviors will serve as a potent social vaccine,” he underlined.

Adding to this, the Health Ministry on Friday confirmed that testing in India has steeply increased to more than 900,000 tests per day. The total tested samples now stand at 32,661,252.

“Aggressive testing leads to early identification and isolation of COVID-19 positive cases. This coupled with efficient clinical treatment brings the fatality rate down,” the ministry said.

India registered 68,898 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, crossing the 2.9 million mark, according to Health Ministry data. The nation’s infection tally now stands at 2,905,823.

The death toll has reached 54,849, with 983 new fatalities in the past 24 hours. The country has the fourth-highest death toll in the world.