No extension of lockdown: Govt
COVID-19 MEASURES Number of cases crosses 1,200; no community transmission yet, says health ministry
NEWDELHI: The government said there was no immediate plan to extend the 21-day nationwide lockdown enforced to stop the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), even as the number of infections crossed 1,200 on Monday. The government also reiterated that Covid-19 is still in the local transmission stage in India and that the rate of increase has been slower than some of the developed countries.
Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the lockdown beginning March 25, highways across the national capital and other metropolises have teemed with people walking hundreds of kilometres with their belongings. The stranded migrants cited the shortage of money and food as reasons for leaving big cities.
The c l ari f i c at i on on t he extension by cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba came as health experts warned that an exodus could run contrary to the purpose of the lockdown — breaking the chain of infections.
The lockdown will be in place till April 14, and the government has repeatedly asked citizens to abide by the order.
In a tweet, the government’s Press Information Bureau said: “There are rumours & media reports, claiming that the Government will extend the #Lockdown21 when it expires. The Cabinet Secretary has denied these reports, and stated that they are baseless.”
As of 7pm on Monday, the number of Covid-19 cases in India was 1,263, with 32 fatalities due to the virus, according to covid19india.org, which tracks Sars-cov-2 infections in the country. Of these, 1,127 are active cases.
The official data of the Union health ministry, however, said the case count was 1,071, which showed there was a lag in the official numbers released by states being taken into account.
Maharashtra has the highest number of Covid-19 cases, with 215 people infected with the virus. Kerala, too, reported over 200 cases (202).
Addressing the daily press briefing on the actions taken, preparedness and updates on Covid-19, the Union health mini stry’s j oint secretary, Lav Agarwal, said 92 new cases and four deaths due to coronavirus have been reported in India since Sunday.
“It took 12 days for cases to rise f rom 100 t o 1, 000 i n our country, whereas seven other developed nations having lesser population than us have seen multiple increase,” he said. Globally, the number of infections crossed 730,000 with at least 34,000 deaths, mostly in Europe.
Agarwal attributed the slow pace of rise in cases in India to people’s participation in strictly following the social distancing guidelines and the collective preemptive actions taken by the Centre in tandem with state governments.
He, however, said instead of panic, there is a need for creating awareness about the SarsCov-2 infection.
“Technically, Covid-19 is still in the local transmission stage in the country as there has been no community transmission as of now,” he said, adding, “If t here will be a c ommunity transmission we will want to c ovey i t t o t he c ommunity through you (media) to increase the level of alertness and management for Covid-19 at the field level.”
This comments came even as some scientists have raised concerns that community transmission (phase-3) has begun, which would make it difficult to stop the spread of Covid-19. The