India has significantly slowed down the spread of COVID-19 because of lockdown
As the end of lockdown is approaching, India has started to work on a new phase of its containment plan. The 40-days national lockdown which started on 25th March will end on 3rd May. It gave authorities enough time to contain the infection and scale up health infrastructure. According to fresh data, 35,000 people have caught the deadly infection. 8889 have recovered and 1147 people have died so far. The country has increased its testing to around 49,000 people every day.
How coronavirus cases are growing in India?
The doubling time of the Coronavirus positive cases in India is now 15 days. The doubling time was 3.4 days a week before the lockdown which indicates that lockdown has definitely slowed down the spread of the global pandemic. By the week ending on April 27, the doubling time improved to 10.77 days. The doubling time is the number of days it takes for the count of cases to double.
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Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Orissa and Jammu & Kashmir has the highest doubling date rates at 11-15 days. Telangana has the lowest doubling rate at 58 days, followed by Kerala at 37.5 days, Uttarakhand at 30.3 days and Haryana at 24.4 days.
The doubling data was 7.13 days in West Bengal during the period April 23 to April 27. The state reported 795 cases by Friday noon including 33 deaths.
Maharashtra and Gujarat are two states which account for the highest number of cases in India at 10,498 and 4,395 respectively. These two states account for almost 60 per cent of total deaths in the country, 459 in Maharashtra and 214 in Gujarat
The ICMR has already asked the state authorities to stop the use of rapid test which took less than 30 minutes to determine the infection. Dr R R Gangakhedkar, head of epidemiology and infectious diseases at the Indian Council of Medical Research said that the newly procured kits from China were faulty and had failed quality checks.
What is expected in the new guidelines of lockdown 3.0
The government is soon expected to issue new guidelines as we reach near to the last date of the 2nd phase of lockdown. Wider relaxation is expected, especially in green zones to restart the economy. Experts are also waiting for the government to announce a fiscal relief package or move to RBI in order to maintain the fiscal deficit.
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People are also looking at the government on how they will unlock the country’s border to facilitate passengers from foreign countries. Many people of Kerala who went to the Gulf region to work are expected to return.
The Union government is still issuing usual advisories including basic hygiene, social distancing and wearing masks. The government has also advised people to keep them isolated if they begin to feel unwell after visiting a high-risk area to ease the load on hospitals and health workers.
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