India would have seen 8.2 lakh coronavirus cases by April 15 if the lockdown was not implemented, says Health Ministry

Stressing the role of lockdown and other containment steps in limiting coronavirus infection, the Union Health Ministry said, here on Saturday, without them Covid-19 cases could have spiralled to 8.2 lakh by April 15.

Without these steps, Covid-19 cases could have registered a 41 per cent cumulative increase to in 8.2 lakh cases by April 15. With containment measures and no lockdown, it could have gone up to 1.2 lakh till April 15, said Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry, citing a statistical model to capture the projected cases.

With 1,035 new cases and 40 deaths in the past 24 hours, the number of confirmed cases in India had reached 7,447, and fatalities 239. 642 people had been cured, Agarwal said.

According to the Health Ministry, 100,000 isolation beds and 11,500 ICU beds have been reserved for Covid-19 patients across the country. Also, 587 dedicated Covid-19 hospitals have been earmarked at the central and the state levels.

India deployed a graded response to fight coronavirus outbreak, it added.

The Indian Council Of Medical Research (ICMR) said 1,71,718 samples had been tested. On Friday, 16,564 tests were conducted through a network of government and private labs.