Rise in cases expected to stabilise soon: Niti Aayog member VK Paul
NEW DELHI: The continuous rise in the number of people testing positive for coronavirus disease (Covid-19) is expected to stabilise sometime soon, Niti Aayog member V K Paul said on Sunday.
He also said the rationale behind the government’s decision to extend the lockdown by two more weeks after May 3 is to consolidate the gains of the first and second phase of restrictions.
In an interview to PTI, Paul said sudden spurt in number of coronavirus cases is still amenable to containment strategy.
“The rationale (behind extending the lockdown till May 17) is that the gains of lockdown need to be consolidated...real goal of lockdown was to suppress the chain of transmission of the virus. So, we will lose that, if we abruptly end it,” he said. Paul, who is heading an Empowered Group on medical equipment and management plan to tackle the outbreak, said that at the same time where situation is good, the opening will take place with caution and care.
Replying to a question that whether India has slipped into community transmission stage, he said, “Essentially, we think it (continuous rise in coronavirus cases) is still amenable to containment strategy”.
He also noted that India is nowhere close to the kind of escalation that it witnessed during the pre-lockdown phase.
“In the pre-lockdown stage, we were doubling our number of cases in every five days. Before that even at every 3 days. Now, we are doubling in 11-12 days. So, overall the rate of spread has diminished but yes the number still has not stabilised. But we expect it to stabilise...,” Paul said.
Reacting to criticism that India not doing enough tests, Paul said India’s testing strategy has been fine-tuned from time to time based on the Covid-19 stage .
“We have build and increased our capacities. Today, we are doing more than 50,000 tests every day and we have done more than 7 lakh tests total,” he said.
‘WORK FROM HOME TO BECOME NEW NORMAL’
On what will be the new normal after the lockdown ends, the Niti Aayog member said working from home wherever possible, will become a new normal until pandemic is totally extinguished.
“After the lockdown ends, our new normal is going to be very different. There will be no big collection of people, there will be no religious congregation or big events. We will have to wear masks. Lots of things will change until the pandemic is totally extinguished,” he observed.