Without Lockdown, India Could Have Seen 1.2 Lakh Covid-19 Cases By 15 April: Health Ministry

Stressing the role of lockdown and other containment steps in limiting coronavirus infection, the Union Health Ministry said, on Saturday, without them Covid-19 cases could have spiralled to 8.2 lakh by 15 April.

Without these steps, Covid-19 cases could have registered a 41 per cent cumulative increase to in 8.2 lakh cases by April 15. With containment measures and no lockdown, it could have gone up to 1.2 lakh till April 15, said Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry, citing a statistical model to capture the projected cases.

Addressing the gathering of media persons at the daily presser, Agarwal shared that the nation has set up one lakh isolation beds, apart from which 11,500 intensive care unit (ICU) beds have also been established to fight the pandemic.

Agarwal also apprised the mediapersons that the Government at the centre and the States have established 587 dedicated COVID-19 hospitals, bolstering the nation's preparedness to contain any fallout of the outbreak. He also underscored that the national approach to deal with the virus has been aligned with the emerging global conditions.

With 1,035 new cases and 40 deaths in the past 24 hours, the number of confirmed cases in India had reached 7,447, and fatalities 239. 642 people had been cured, Agarwal said.

Also, the tally of confirmed cases is highest in Maharashtra where the total number of cases is nearing 2,000, while the confirmed cases in Tamil Nadu and Delhi are nearing the 1,000 cases mark.

(With IANS Inputs)