E-Paper
Govt data shows India better placed than others in Covid-19 fight
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had highlighted the scenario in his address to the nation on April 14 as he extended the nationwide lockdown till May 3.
India is in a better position in terms of the spread of coronavirus disease Covid-19 and the number of fatalities, according to Union health ministry.
The health ministry data revealed that India has seen just nine cases per million - the lowest in the world - as compared to one of the worst affected countries Spain, which has seen 3,864 cases per million. Covid-19 has devastated Europe with other European countries like Italy and France recording 2,732 and 2,265 positive cases per million.
Even the United States has close to 2,000 (1,946 to be exact) cases per million, as per the health ministry data.
The number of fatalities is too is lowest in India - 0.3 deaths per million as against 402 in Spain. In Italy and France, the figure stands at 358 and 263 per million respectively.
As the number of Covid-19 cases increased, the Centre proactively ramped up testing for the disease. The health ministry said that India has tested 2,17,554 people as the figure crossed 10,000, next only to Canada which has tested 2,95,065 people in the same category.
It took more number of days for infection to double in India, due to the stringent measures put in place by the Centre. While in US, France, UK and other countries the infection doubled, first from 75 to 1500 and then from 1,500 to 3,000 in 2-3 days, in India the time taken for infection to spread was four days.
Similarly, it took six days for the number of infected to spread from 6,000 to 12,000 in India, whereas the grim milestone was achieved in just four days in other Western countries.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had highlighted the scenario in his address to the nation on April 14 as he extended the nationwide lockdown till May 3. He asserted that India has chosen the correct path and managed to avert to a large extent the damage caused by the pandemic in many countries.
He acknowledged that the lockdown has come at a huge economic cost, but said the saving lives of the citizens is his government’s priority.
The total number of Covid-19 positive cases reached 12,380 on Thursday, according to the Union Health Ministry. At least 414 people have died of the disease, the ministry said.
