AIIMS chief dampens the government’s celebration of ‘a flatter curve’⁠— warns that next 4-6 weeks are crucial in the fight against COVID-19

IANS

• “While the lockdown has helped in flattening the curve, the curve has not shown a downward trend. That is a cause for concern,” Guleria told The Indian Express.
• He also believes “the next four to six weeks will be very, very important because the lockdown cannot be there forever. The ideal, the dream would be to have zero cases.”
  
• Guleria believes “we are better prepared than we were before”, but the pandemic has to be “fought at the community level, not the hospital level.”
  
  

Lav Aggarwal, the spokesperson, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, highlighted the fact that for the first time since the outbreak, India’s COVID-19 cases are doubling every 12 days. Which is a huge improvement since before lockdown began coronavirus cases were doubling every 3.2 days as of March 24. However, the chief of India’s premier health institution warns that it is too soon to celebrate.

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A 40-day long nationwide shutdown has “helped in flattening the Coronavirus curve”, but it hasn’t shown a downward trend so far, Doctor Randeep Guleria from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) told The Indian Express.

Chief Guleria, a renowned pulmonologist, is monitoring the Coronavirus pandemic in the country closely. He is also involved in building strategies for the prevention and containment of COVID-19. “While the lockdown has helped in flattening the curve, the curve has not shown a downward trend. That is a cause for concern,” he remarked.

However, according to Guleria, it is unlikely that the number of cases will fall significantly in the next four to six weeks. “The solution is to identify the areas where the maximum number of cases are coming, and focus containment on bringing down the number of cases, and convert them to orange or green zones. At the same time, continue surveillance in green zones,” he said.

The total number of Covid-19 cases in India climbed to 46,433 on Tuesday (May 5), according to the Union Health Ministry data. Of the total cases, 32,138 are active, 12,726 people have recovered, and 1,568 people have succumbed to the disease.

Maharashtra remained the worst-hit state with the total number of cases rising to 14,541, with 583 deaths and 2,465 people recovering from the deadly virus.


See also:India's COVID-19 cases are now doubling every 12 days — that's a steady improvement
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