The Health Ministry on Saturday said that the number of coronavirus cases could have increased by 41 per cent if there had been no nationwide lockdown and containment measures were not carried out in the country.
This would have resulted in 8.2 lakh coronavirus cases by April 15, it added.
Ready for a challenge? Click here to take our quiz and show off your knowledge!
Moreover, coronavirus cases would also have been increasedto 1.2 lakh in the country if only containment measures were implemented without announcing nationwide lockdown, the ministry added.
The health ministry said that pre-emptive and proactive measures taken by India helped contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
“The response of Government of India has been pre-emptive, proactive and to the extent of being over-prepared; through our graded approach, we have aligned our response with evolving situation”, Lav Agarwal, joint secretary with the Health Ministry, said.
Ready for a challenge? Click here to take our quiz and show off your knowledge!
The health ministry also stated that 586 dedicated COVID-19 hospitals have so far been set up in the country with a capacity of more than 1 lakh isolation beds and around 11,500 ICU beds.
“This figure is being augmented every day, based on evolving situation,” Agarwal said.
The Government’s goal is to implement containment policy, containment action plan, contact tracing and clinical management of COVID-19 patients in proper manner, as per process, in coordination with states, the Health Ministry added.
The death toll due to COVID-19 in India rose to 239 and the number of cases surged to 7,447, according to the Union Health Ministry.