The Union health ministry on Saturday said the total number of Covid-19 cases in India would have been around 2 lakh by now had the government not imposed a nationwide lockdown and adopted containment measures.
The Union health ministry on Saturday said the total number of Covid-19 cases in India would have been around two lakh by now had the government not imposed a nationwide lockdown and adopted containment measures.
Addressing the daily press conference in New Delhi, Joint Secretary (Health) Lav Agarwal said, “Lockdown and containment measures are important to fight Covid-19. If we had not taken any measures then we might have had two lakh cases at this time.”
Speaking about the available health infrastructure, Lav Agarwal said there are one lakh isolation beds and 11,500 ICU beds reserved for Covid-19 patients across country.
He claimed the government’s response to Covid-19 pandemic has “been proactive”. “We have followed a graded approach. There are 586 Covid-19 dedicated hospitals and more than one lakh isolation beds in the country,” Lav Agrawal said.
Meanwhile, the total number of Covid-19 cases in India has touched 7,447. Of these, 642 cases have recovered and 239 have died.
The Union health ministry on Saturday said the total number of Covid-19 cases in India would have been around two lakh by now had the government not imposed a nationwide lockdown and adopted containment measures.
Addressing the daily press conference in New Delhi, Joint Secretary (Health) Lav Agarwal said, “Lockdown and containment measures are important to fight Covid-19. If we had not taken any measures then we might have had two lakh cases at this time.”
Speaking about the available health infrastructure, Lav Agarwal said there are one lakh isolation beds and 11,500 ICU beds reserved for Covid-19 patients across country.
He claimed the government’s response to Covid-19 pandemic has “been proactive”. “We have followed a graded approach. There are 586 Covid-19 dedicated hospitals and more than one lakh isolation beds in the country,” Lav Agrawal said.
Meanwhile, the total number of Covid-19 cases in India has touched 7,447. Of these, 642 cases have recovered and 239 have died.
“During the video-conferencing on coronavirus in India with state CMs today, most states requested Prime Minister Modi to extend the lockdown for two more weeks. The central government is considering this request,” government’s Principal Spokesperson KS Dhatwalia said in a tweet.
More direct and clear indication of a possible extension came from Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who tweeted the “PM has taken correct decision to extend lockdown. Today, India’s position is better than many developed countries because we started lockdown early. If it (lockdown) is stopped now, all gains would be lost. To consolidate, it is important to extend it.”
The central government is understood to have also obtained views on the issue from all the relevant agencies and stakeholders involved in the efforts to contain the spread of the pandemic.
The video conference, which began at 11am, came even as Punjab and Odisha governments earlier this week announced extension of the lockdown beyond April 14 when the current spell of 21-day shutdown ends on Tuesday.
The Union Home Ministry has sought views of state governments on various aspects, including whether more categories of people and services need to be exempted. Only essential services are exempted during the ongoing lockdown.
Source: IndiaToday