More on Covid-19

NEW DELHI: The rate of doubling of Covid-19 cases in India is 4.1 days presently but if the cases linked to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation would not have happened, it would have been 7.4 days, the health ministry said on Sunday.Joint secretary in the ministry Lav Agarwal said there had been 472 new Covid-19 cases and 11 deaths since Saturday. The total coronavirus cases stand at 3,374 and the death toll now stands at 79.He said 267 people have recovered.Asserting that there was no evidence that Covid-19 was airborne, an ICMR official said, "We need to understand that in science ... some will have a 'for opinion and some against' ... we need to take a balanced, evidence-based approach.”"For example, if it was an air-borne infection then one person can infect the entire family because they are living in same surrounding as the patient and the breathing the same air. When someone is admitted to hospital, other patient would have been exposed (if it was air borne) but that is not the case,” the official said.Talking about the Tablighi Jamaat congregation, Agarwal said that the doubling rate - that is in how many days the cases get doubled - would have been 7.4 days instead of the current 4.1 days.Cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba on Sunday held a meeting on Covid-19 with district magistrates, superintendent of police, chief medical officers, state and district surveillance officers, state health secretaries and district health secretaries and chief secretaries, Agarwal said.District officials shared the strategies adopted by them to combat the pandemic like how they delineated containment and buffer zone, how they carried out door-to-door survey through special teams, how through telemedicine and call centres the passengers who had come were monitored.The districts from where many cases were reported like Agra, Bhilwada, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Pathan Mitha, East Delhi also shared their experiences and strategies adopted by them.The main points that came from the experience shared by districts were proactive and ruthless containment implementation at field level and second is preparedness to the extent of being over prepared so that cases can be handled at any stage, Agarwal said.All DMs were instructed pharma units making devices and medicines must run seamlessly, he said.