Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry, said that the spread of infectious diseases is like a geometric progression, and the country's rate of doubling has increased to 12 days.
When asked whether Covid-19 cases will reach their peak towards the end of May, the Joint Secretary replied that it depends on the collective effort put in by everyone to contain the spread of Covid-19.
"As the curve is relatively flat as of now. If we work collectively, peaks may not come, but if we fail then, we may see spikes in cases", said Agarwal.
He also assured everyone about proper testing of cases by informing that 57,474 tests have been conducted in the past 24 hours.
Emphasizing the importance of following preventive measures such as following social distancing and wearing masks, he said,"we are transitioning to a new normal, we need to compulsorily wear face masks/covers in public places; preventive measures need to be followed outside containment zones as well."
The Health Ministry reminded that even though lockdown is being eased in certain areas, people have to continue with the required measures as being complacent can lead to new cases being reported, and in that scenario, stricter norms will have to be implemented.
"Doubling time of Covid-19 cases has improved from 3.4, before lockdown, to 12 days today, lockdown and containment efforts are yielding results, our challenge now is how to further improve these results, to further increase doubling time," the Health Ministry added.
2,573 new cases and 83 deaths reported in the last 24 hours. The total number of Covid-19 positive cases in India are at 42,836, including 29,685 active cases, 11,762 people discharged/migrated and 13,89 deaths.
(With Agency Inputs)
Watch: India reports more than 40 thousand COVID-19 cases.