New delhi sources stated that Union health Ministry on thursday said india has been able "cut coronavirus transmission", minimise its spread and increase the doubling time of Covid19 cases during the 30-day period of the nationwide lockdown. The Ministry also said that india is better than majority of developed countries with respect to the percentage of test cases yielding positive results.

 

Following are the highlights of health Ministry's press conference appraising on the COVID-19 situation in the country on thursday (April 23) in New Delhi:

 

No new COVID-19 cases of the pandemic has been reported from 78 districts in the last 14 days, says Joint Secretary in the health Ministry Lav Agarwal.

 

4,257 COVID-19 patients, which is 19.89 per cent of those infected have been cured so far.

 

In the last 24 hours, 1,409 cases were reported, taking the total number of positive cases to 21,393.

 

Growth of coronavirus cases more or less linear and not exponential in india, says C K Mishra, the chairman of Empowered Group Two, who is tasked with coordinating availability of hospitals, isolation and quarantine facilities, disease surveillance, testing and critical care training.

 

Post imposition of lockdown, while the number of new positive cases has increased by 16 times, testing increased by 24 times.

 

One crucial weapon we employed during the 30-day lockdown period is RT-PCR test to ascertain if one has contracted the disease or not, Mishra says.

 

As on march 23, nearly 15,000 tests were done across the country and by april 22 more than 5 lakh tests were conducted, which is about "33 times in 30 days.”

 

In the last month, the number of dedicated hospitals for treating coronavirus patients has been increased 3.5 times and the number of isolation beds rose by 3.6 times.

 

Despite a 24-fold increase in testing, percentage of positive cases is not rising. The percentage of positive cases as a ratio of testing is more or less the same as that a month ago, says Mishra.

 

india better than majority of developed countries with respect to the percentage of test cases yielding positive results.

 

We need to evolve our strategy based on the current position... We seem to be doing well so far with our strategy which is intensely focused on areas where we see a lot of positivity and action happening. Our testing strategy has been focused, targeted and continues to expand, says Mishra