Covid-19 Cases In India Would Have Crossed 1 Lakh By Now Had Lockdown Not Been Imposed: Top Health Policy Maker Dr Paul

The Central government on Friday (24 April) said that the number of Covid-19 cases in the country is now doubling in every 10 days, adding that had the lockdown not been imposed on time, the number of cases would have sky-rocketed to over one lakh by now.

"Had we not taken the decision to impose nationwide lockdown, we would have had around one lakh Covid-19 cases by now. This is a reasonable estimate," said Dr V K Paul

Dr Paul, who is also the Chairman of the government's Empowered Committee- 1, said the "cases are now doubling in every 10 days."

"As on 21 March, our doubling time of cases was three days. Results started showing on 23 March, due to travel restrictions imposed earlier. On 6 April, further slowing of doubling rate became visible, thanks to the nationwide lockdown," he added.

He further added that the decision to impose the lockdown was timely and asserted that the curve has begun to flatten.

"Nationwide lockdown helped take us away from the exponential growth curve and thereby contain the growth of Covid-19 cases," he said.

Dr Paul further added that surveillance has been a great strength in containing the spread of the virus.

"Besides containing the spread, augmenting testing and improving preparedness, the nation has brought about a massive behavioural change through a Jan Andolan (mass movement)," he said.

Dr Paul has been a faculty member for the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi for over 32 years and has been serving as the Head of Department (HoD) of Pediatrics for the last 10 years.

An internationally renowned paediatrician, academic, medical researcher and public health exponent, he was conferred the prestigious Ihsan Dogramaci Family Health Foundation Prize by WHO in 2018.

A NITI Aayog member since August 2017, Dr Paul was recently appointed as the Chairman of The Board of Governors of Medical Council of India.

The number of confirmed cases in the country has crossed the 23,000-mark, with 718 deaths. Globally, the number of cases has crossed 2.7 million while the death toll has mounted to 1.9 lakh.

With Inputs From IANS