1K cases in 12 days, lockdown working: Govt

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 30

The first official analysis of the ongoing national lockdown has indicated positive results for Covid-19 containment with the government saying this is no time to let the guard down.

Edit: Reassuring clarity

Aided by social distancing and national lockdown starting midnight last Tuesday, India has taken 12 days to reach 1,000 Covid cases from the initial 100 case bracket. Developed countries such as the US, Italy, Germany and Spain, which used strategies other than lockdown and are the worst hit, witnessed several thousand cases at a much faster rate than India.

Need 100% compliance

We can’t afford to reduce our level of alertness just yet. We need 100 per cent compliance, not 99 per cent. — Lav Agarwal, Joint secy, Health Ministry

Amid fears that shutdown of businesses across the country may trigger severe economic and social distress, Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba clarified there was no immediate plan to extend the 21-day lockdown. This came after thousands of migrant labourers undertook long journeys from major urban centres on foot to their homes reflecting their struggle for survival due to job losses.

On the efficacy of lockdown, Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said: “India took 12 days to move from 100 cases to 1,000. Many developed countries with significantly smaller populations jumped from 100 to 3,500, 5,000, 6,000 and even 7,800 cases over the same period. It is clear, practising social distancing and lockdown is giving us relatively positive results. He refused to comment on Cabinet Secretary Rajeev Gauba’s statement that lockdown will not be extended beyond the 21-day period.

The government clarified India was still not at community transmission stage and it would announce publicly once that stage was reached. In the past 24 hours, India saw 92 new cases (up from 979 to 1,071) and two new deaths, with toll touching 29.

Major efforts are now on to ramp up medical supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE), masks and ventilators. India has only 14,000 ventilators in its hospitals as of now; 3.34 lakh PPEs for doctors and 11.95 lakh N95 masks.

Automobile makers were asked to produce ventilators and orders placed with international firms.

No community spread so far, clarifies govt

The Health Ministry denied India was in community transmission stage after questions were raised on Covid-19 patient transportation protocol document which mentions “limited community transmission stage”. The ministry, however, said the document was only for patient movement. TNS

Ensure medics are not evicted: Govt

Health Secretary Preeti Sudan on Monday wrote to state chief secretaries asking them to invoke provisions of the law to ensure landlords do not evict doctors and nurses from their rented premises. The states have also been told to spare hostels of doctors from being converted into quarantine centres. TNS