India was one of the first countries to announce a lockdown in the country. But now six months down the line the lockdown had to be lifted to cover up for the economic losses. The cases continue to rise inspite of the safety precautions that people are following.
India’s COVID-19 caseload mounted to 74,94,551 with 61,871 new infections being reported in a day. The recoveries surged to 65,97,209 pushing the recovery rate to 88.03 per cent, according to the health ministry data updated on Sunday.
COVID -19 death toll climbed to 1,14,031 with the virus claiming 1,033 lives in a span of 24 hours. The number of active cases of coronavirus infection remained below 8 lakh for the second consecutive day.
There are 7,83,311 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country, comprising 10.45 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.
The COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.52 per cent.
India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh cases on August 23 and 40 lakh on September 5 . It went past 50 lakh cases on September 16, 60 lakh on September 28 and crossed 70 lakh on October 11.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, a cumulative total of 9,42,24,190 samples have been tested up to October 17 with 9,70,173 samples being tested on Saturday.
India is behind the US in terms of active cases of COVID-19 as well as total caseload, according to Worldometer.
India is in the number one position in terms of the number of recovered cases while it is in the third spot in terms of fatalities globally after the United States and Brazil.
New Panel report on Coronavirus Pandemic
According to a government-appointed committee chaired by IIT Hyderabad professor M Vidyasagar, if all precautions are taken then the virus can be controlled by Feb 2021.
Experts opine that with no lockdown, the pandemic would have hit India very hard, with a peak load of over 140 lakh cases arriving in June. Given our lack of preparedness back then, the healthcare system would have been
overwhelmed, leading to many additional deaths. Had India waited until May to impose the lockdown, the peak load of active cases would have been around 50 lakhs by June,” the panel report said.
“In actuality, the peak of active cases came in late September at around 10 lakhs. By this time, we were far better equipped to handle the pandemic in terms of diagnostics and vital equipment inventories. Without a lockdown the number of deaths in India would have overwhelmed the system within a very short time frame. We would eventually have crossed 26 lakhs fatalities,” it added.
The committee also asserted that the imposition of various safety protocols such as wearing masks and social distancing, together with a comprehensive lockdown has allowed India to fare better than many other countries.
“India has one-sixth of the world’s population (one-fifth excluding China), and one-sixth of the reported cases. However, India accounts for only 10 pc of the world’s deaths, and its case fatality rate of less
than 2 per cent is among the lowest in the world,” it said.
No fresh lockdowns should be imposed on district or state level to contain the spread of COVID-19 unless there is an imminent danger of healthcare facilities being overwhelmed, according to a government-appointed committee chaired by IIT Hyderabad professor M Vidyasagar.
