There is a feeling among government officials that early lockdown has led to averting high Covid-19 triggered deaths and spread of the virus in the country.

Even by a simple model, at least 14-29 lakh coronavirus cases and between 37,000 and 71,000 deaths have been averted, said the Centre on Friday, highlighting how India has been able to contain the virus through early implementation of nationwide lockdown.

In a routine press briefing to apprise media about the coronavirus situation in the country, Praveen Srivastava, a senior officer with the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), said the government has shared publicly available data with independent experts to model the impact of lockdown, adding that “in pandemic like this there are no parallels to compare”.

“Two independent economists have estimated that we have averted 23 lakh cases and 68,000 deaths. According to some retired scientists about 15.9 lakh cases and 51,000 deaths have been avoided, my ministry worked with Indian Statistical Institute and found 20 lakh cases were averted,” said Srivastava. “The way we are opening up the economy, the way people are sensitised, it will have a significant impact,” he added.

Meanwhile, member of NITI Aayog Dr V K Paul said that the growth rate of the virus was controlled by India. “You can imagine how it would have been if growth had continued at 22 per cent. The doubling time has come down from 3.5 days to 13.5 days because of the lockdown,” said Dr Paul.

Courtesy: Indian Express