NEW DELHI, Apr 24:
Nationwide cases of confirmed coronavirus infections rose today by over 1,750 — the maximum for a day — with several States including Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat detecting new patients, even as the Government said the outbreak is under control and the tally could have reached one lakh by now without a nationwide lockdown.
Several medical experts said the prevailing restrictions have been crucial in preventing a situation similar to the US or Europe, but cautioned that a “bigger challenge” awaits the country when it gradually move towards exiting the nationwide lockdown.
Some scientists also warned that the trajectory of COVID-19 cases could have plateaued and might even fall for some weeks after the lockdown is lifted but India is likely to see a second wave in late July or August with a surge in the number of cases during the monsoon.
“It looks apparent that the trajectory of daily new cases has reached a plateau and eventually it will take a downward fall, maybe for some weeks or even months,” Samit Bhattacharya, associate professor at the Department of Mathematics, Shiv Nadar University, said.
Rajesh Sundaresan, professor at Bengaluru’s Indian Institute of Science (IISc), said, “Once we return to normal activity levels, there is a chance that infection may begin to rise again. China is seeing this to some extent post easing of some restrictions on travel.”
According to a PTI tally of figures announced by various states and union territories, as on 9.30 pm, the number of confirmed cases has reached 24,356 with at least 778 deaths, while 5,170 patients have recovered and have been discharged.
Of this, Maharashtra alone has reported over 6,800 cases with more than 300 deaths. Besides, Gujarat has reported more than 2,800 cases and Delhi has over 2,500 cases. Rajasthan has also crossed the 2,000-mark, followed by Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
In its 5 PM update, the Union Health Ministry had put the nationwide tally of confirmed cases at 23,452 — showing an increase of 1,752 since Thursday — along with 723 deaths.
The previous highest single-day increase was of 1,540 cases on April 20.
According to the Ministry, the number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 17,915 as 4,813 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, which translates into a recovery rate of 20.52 per cent. The total number of cases include 77 foreign nationals.
A four-month-old baby girl became the youngest victim of COVID-19 in Kerala on Friday. She was admitted to the Medical College Hospital in Kozhikode on April 21 with history of fever, cough, breathing difficulties and seizure after being treated at two other hospitals.
The new cases of confirmed infections included nine CRPF personnel in the national capital. Besides, seven police personnel, including four women, tested positive in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. The state on Friday announced a complete shutdown beginning Sunday in Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai and some other places, disallowing even grocery shops and fully curtailing the public movement.
The Union Home Ministry, in the meantime, flagged that the COVID-19 situation is especially serious in some major or emerging hotspot areas including Ahmedabad, Surat, Hyderabad and Chennai. It also said that violations of lockdown measures reported in some parts of the country pose a serious health hazard to public and may lead to the spread of COVID-19.
The Centre has sent 10 Central teams for spot assessment of the COVID-19 hotspot districts across the country, including five new ones — Ahmedabad and Surat in Gujarat, Thane in Maharashtra, Hyderabad in Telangana and Chennai in Tamil Nadu. Earlier, similar teams were sent for Mumbai and Pune in Maharashtra, Indore in Madhya Pradesh and Jaipur in Rajasthan, besides two teams for West Bengal.
Officials at the Government’s daily press briefing on the COVID-19 situation, however, sounded confident that the fight against the deadly virus outbreak was progressing well and the nationwide lockdown announced by Modi was a timely step.
Niti Ayog member V K Paul said the lockdown has been effective in slowing the rate at which COVID-19 cases is doubling in India, and it now stands at 10 days, as against three days on March 21.
Paul, who is also heading one of the empowered groups set up to deal with the COVID-19 crisis, said the curve has begun to flatten.
“Had we not taken the decision of clamping the nationwide lockdown, we would have had around 1 lakh COVID-19 cases by now, as per a reasonable estimate. Now, the outbreak is under control,” he said.
Officials, however, said these projections are based on the growth pattern at a particular time.
Director of National Centre for Disease Control S K Singh said that surveillance has been the country’s primary weapon in the fight against Novel Coronavirus.
“We started our surveillance mechanism even before the first case was reported in India. This played an important role in helping us contain the spread of the infection,” Singh said.
He added that around 9.45 lakh suspected Coronavirus cases are under the surveillance network at present and upon detection of symptoms of the infection, samples are taken from these people for testing.
Singh said the surveillance network has been set up at district level as well, so that household survey, quarantine and isolation are done as part of cluster containment plan.
Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry Lav Agarwal said in the last 28 days, as many as 15 districts have had no new case, while there are 80 districts in the country that have not reported any new coronavirus case in the last 14 day.
In Delhi, where more than 800 people have recovered so far including at least 723 in six days till Thursday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the plasma therapy trial conducted on four patients here has yielded “very encouraging” initial results, giving a ray of hope to seriously-ill coronavirus patients.
Karnataka is also likely to start the Convalescent Plasma Therapy (CPT) for COVID-19 patients, who are critical, from Saturday, State’s Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar said. (PTI)
Follow our WhatsApp channel
