A government constituted panel on Friday remarked that the almost two month long nationwide lockdown period beginning March 25 has served its purpose and it was not possible to continue it for an unlimited time. The chairman of the empowered group number 1, formed along with several others, added that the lockdown had given the country sufficient time to upgrade its health infrastructure to meet the challenges posed by any rapid spread in the coronavirus contagion.
“Lockdown has mostly achieved its purpose, but it cannot be continued for unlimited time; we need to behave in a manner which makes it difficult for coronavirus to spread. This is the way forward,” said Dr V K Paul, Member (Health), NITIAayog and the Chairman of the Empowered Group 1.
Further explaining his statement, Dr Paul said that the growth rate of Covid 19 cases has seen a steady fall since April 3, 2020, around eight days the imposition of the first phase of the lockdown. He said that the number of cases would have been much higher today, had the lockdown not been implemented.
He added that this was also true for the death rate of the disease
“Like number of cases, the growth rate of Covid-19 deaths, too, has fallen significantly due to the lockdown, marking a notable difference between pre-lockdown and post-lockdown situations,” he said.
The chairman said India’s response to the unprecedented crisis presented by the pandemic could be summed up in four words: timely, graded, proactive and pre-emptive. “It has been part and parcel of our overall strategy,” said Dr Paul.
{{/usCountry}}The chairman said India’s response to the unprecedented crisis presented by the pandemic could be summed up in four words: timely, graded, proactive and pre-emptive. “It has been part and parcel of our overall strategy,” said Dr Paul.
{{/usCountry}}Explaining it further, he pointed out that in less than two months, the country had scaled up its coronavirus fighting capability with 1,093 covid facilities comprising around 3.24 lakh hospital beds and 6.5 lakh beds in covid care centres.
On testing capacity, it was pointed out that a total of 27,55,714 tests have been done till 1 PM on Friday. Friday was also the 4th day when more than 1 lakh tests were done in a single day.
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Due to the continuous scaling up of all preventing measures, a total of 48,534 coronavirus patients have been cured so far, including 3,334 patients cured in the last 24 hours, taking up the recovery rate to 41% while 66,330 patients were under active medical supervision.
“The time the nation got for preparation due to lockdown has been utilized very well, we can now say with confidence that we will be able to face the challenge and surmount it,” added Dr Paul.