india

Updated: Apr 24, 2020 17:45 IST

The Central government on Friday presented facts and figures to claim that India had succeeded in slowing down the spread of coronavirus to a significant level as seen in the rise of the contagion’s doubling rate--from 3 days at around March 21 to 10 days as of Saturday on April 24-- within a month.

The government specifically mentioned three timely decisions—suspension of international flights, implementation of nationwide lockdown and the implementation of testing and quarantining protocol—as landmarks that prevented an exponential growth of coronavirus as seen in the west.

The government officials representing two out of 11 empowered groups formed to formulate and monitor the country’s containment efforts said it was important to recognize the success of India’s strategy which was likely to deliver even more positive results which will continue to emerge till mid-May.

“On March 21, the total number of positive cases was 300 and the doubling rate was around 3.2 and 3.3 days. After Janta Curfew, around March 23, the direction changed, the doubling rate rose to 5 days. This was perhaps the impact of travel restrictions imposed. Post April 6, the doubling rate consistently went past 5-days and headed towards 10 days. This was the positive impact of the complete lockdown,” said the chairman of empowered group number 1.

He said that the lockdown decision has played a major role in saving lives of Indians.

“The lockdown decision was a timely decision, it helped us contain the positive cases to around 23,000 as of today, while it could have gone up to 73,000. Curve has begun to flatten. The nation has shown that lockdown has been effective in saving lives, containing the infection and slowing down the doubling rate. We need to build on these gains,” said the chairman.

The officials said that apart from blips due to some setbacks, statistics have shown a consistent improvement in the containment of the virus despite the number of increasing infections.

Health ministry official Lav Agarwal pointed out that the recovery rate from coronavirus has gone past the 20 per cent mark, marking an important milestone.

The HT Guide to Coronavirus COVID-19

He added that 15 districts in the country have not reported any fresh cases since the last 28 days and three new districts have joined this list, whereas 80 districts in the country have not reported any positive cases in the last 14 days.

He said that 1,684 new Covid positive cases were reported since yesterday, taking the total number of positive patients to 23,077. Out of these,17,610 were active cases. The total number of recoveries was at 4,748 including 491 persons who have been declared cured since yesterday.

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