Timely lockdown helped us combat Covid-19, says Modi

WASHINGTON:Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said India was able to combat Covid-19 far better than experts around the world believed it could because of the timely countrywide lockdown, which gave it time to ramp up health system significantly. The epidemic also taught India, he added, to be “self-reliant”.

“With timely lockdown, India successfully protected the lives of tens of thousands of its citizens,” Modi said in his address to a virtual annual meeting of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin. He added it was contrary to fears expressed by experts around the world that India could be in “deep crisis”.

The lockdown was imposed from March 25 to check the spread of the disease before the government last month announced the phased plan to lift the stringent restrictions.

Modi said Covid-19 fatalities were less than 12 for every million people in India. “Not even 12,” he repeated to emphasise the low number compared to more than 350 in the US and over 600 in the UK, Spain, and Italy.

The US is the worst-hit by the Covid-19 in terms of the death toll and infections.

“If India today has been able to fight the coronavirus, it is because the lockdown played a very big role in it.”

Modi said India was able to increase the number of hospital beds, isolation wards, and labs to test coronavirus infections during the lockdown. He added three months ago, India was an importer of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), testing kits, and even N-95 masks. He added today India produces 4 million PPEs a week and 3 million N-95s. “We used to import earlier, and now we are moving towards exporting them,” he said.

He added even ventilators, which are needed for severely ill and hospitalised patients, were mostly imported earlier, whereas 50,000 of them made in India are in the process of being deployed. “It is said that every crisis teaches us something or the other,” Modi said. He added Covid-19 has taught India to be self-reliant and this will help further strengthen the healthcare system.

He said India has supplied medicines and medical equipment to over 150 countries and provided training to personnel of 16 countries. He added India sent anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine to many countries, including the US.

PM MODI WAS VIRTUALLY ADDRESSING AN ANNUAL MEET OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PHYSICIANS OF INDIAN ORIGIN