Sharp bump in corona tally warns of potential dangers
63 NEW CASES 4 more test positive in Ladakh, Haryana; one in Punjab
NEW DELHI: India’s battle to effectively contain the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) continued on Friday as the number of infections doubled in just four days to 236, even as experts reiterated that not enough people were being tested and that an undetected spread could overwhelm the country’s health care infrastructure.
On Friday, India reported 63 fresh cases, taking the tally up from 173 a day earlier. Several states across the country have announced large-scale shutdowns to stop the outbreak from entering the stage of community transmission, a point when a person’s infection can’t be traced to its origin.
Experts said that a sudden and sharp spike in cases could hinder efforts to prevent the outbreak from taking hold if more aggressive and random testing is not carried out across India. Some even believe that community transmission has already begun silently and that it can be tackled only if many more people are tested at random.
As of Friday morning, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) had conducted 14,376 tests – one of the lowest diagnostic rates in the world. India currently has the capacity to test 10,000 samples per day.
South Korea, which has been able to slow the advance of the disease despite reporting about 8,500 cases, has tested about 274,000 people since February. Though the US has tested 82,000 people, Covid-19 cases have raced to alarming levels in the country, leading to widespread criticism of its authorities for intractable delays in making tests available.
On Friday, Delhi reported five fresh cases of the disease, which originated in China’s Wuhan last December and has killed at least 10,000 people. The national capital has so far reported 17 confirmed cases, which include one foreigner. With 52 cases, Maharashtra remains the worst affected state, triggering calls for a complete lockdown to halt the advance of the disease.
While Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal ordered that all malls, except grocery stores and pharmacies, be shut down immediately, Maharashtra put in place similar measures by announcing that all non-essential businesses in Mumbai and across the state were shutting down from midnight through the end of March.
Public health experts warned that despite the intensifying efforts across states, the disease could spiral out of control if Indians showed callous disregard to guidelines and precautions in the fight against Covid-19.
Among the fresh cases reported on Friday was singer Kanika Kapoor, whose announcement of having contracted the disease sent alarm bells ringing in several quarters -- from Parliament house to Rashtrapati Bhavan. Former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje, her MP son Dushyant Singh, and parliamentarians Derek O’Brien and Anupriya Patel began self-quarantines after coming into direct or indirect contact with Kapoor.
Uttar Pradesh health minister Jai Pratap Singh underwent a test for Covid-19 as it emerged that he was at a party thrown by the celebrity singer after her return from London recently. Three BJP MLAs who met him on Thursday also went into self-isolation.
Reacting to a question on Kapoor’s movements across Lucknow and Kanpur, health ministry joint secretary Lav Aggarwal said contact tracing was the immediate protocol that was initiated and all action for containment of the disease began at the same time.
He urged people to follow Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to observe the “Janta Curfew” and stay at home on March 22 from 7am to 9pm, while emphasising that social distancing was primary to curb the spread of COVID-19 infection. “One day’s cooperation will help break the chain of transmission,” he added.
“The Centre has asked the states to take strict action as per the appropriate law against people who are not following the social distancing directive. The state governments have the inherent power under the Epidemic Diseases Act and Disaster Management Act to take action against anyone who does not follow the government directive and risks lives of people,” he added.
In his first address to the nation on the crisis, the Prime Minister on Thursday appealed to citizens to display commitment and called for a “people’s curfew” on Sunday, March 22, where citizens would stay home as both a symbolic message of India’s determination and a test-case to prepare for future challenges.
In line with the announcement, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation said on its Twitter handle: “DMRC has decided to keep its services closed (on Sunday). The move is aimed at encouraging the public to stay indoors and maintain social distancing, which is essential in the fight against COVID-19.”
No passenger train, mail express train or intercity train will operate till 10pm on Sunday following the PM’s call. Operations of suburban rail services in all cities will also reduce to a “bare minimum”. India also expanded universal screening at airports for all passengers coming from Australia, the US and UK.