Lockdown Decision Was Timely, No Covid-19 Cases In 80 Districts Since Past 14 Days, Says Health Ministry

While speaking to reporters, the Ministry officials also hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to implement nationwide lockdown and called it to be a timely decision by the Central government.

Health Ministry also revealed the recovery rate of the COVID-19 patients has gone up to 20.57 per cent. (Image: Twitter/ @DG_PIB)

New Delhi: The Union Health Ministry on Friday confirmed that 1,684 new Coronavirus cases were reported in India in the last 24 hours taking the total tally to 23,077 in the country. During the daily press briefing, Joint Secretary of Health Ministry Luv Agarwal said that India's recovery rate now stands at 20.57 per cent. While speaking to reporters, the Ministry officials also hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to implement nationwide lockdown and called it to be a timely decision by the Central government. Sharing daily updates, the Health Ministry informed that no new cases of COVID-19 have been registered in 80 districts for the past 14 days. With over 23,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases, 4,748 patients have been cured across the country so far.

Total confirmed cases stand at 23,077 Number of total cured stands at 4748 80 is the number of districts that have not reported any case in last 14 days. #IndiaFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/RsysOsKqrj

— PIB India #StayHome #StaySafe (@PIB_India) April 24, 2020

Agarwal also said in the last 28 days, 15 districts have had no new Covid-19 infections and 80 districts in the country have reported no new cases in the last 14 days. He also said that the government would make sure that these districts maintain the status of no new cases and also, new districts get added into this category.

15 districts in the country now have not reported any fresh cases since the last 28 days (3 new districts added) 80 districts from (23 States/UTs) have not reported any new cases since the last 14 days - @MoHFW_INDIA https://t.co/S5oi1ex1HP #IndiaFightsCorona

— PIB India #StayHome #StaySafe (@PIB_India) April 24, 2020

The Health Ministry revealed the recovery rate of the COVID-19 patients has gone up to 20.57 per cent. On Thursday, the recovery rate was 19.89 per cent. Punya Salila Srivastava from Union Home Ministry said apart from 6 Inter-Ministerial Central Teams (IMCT) constituted earlier, Home Ministry today constituted four additional IMCTs, each headed by an Additional Secretary - level officer, to Ahmedabad, Surat, Hyderabad & Chennai. A robust COVID-19 Surveillance System is closely monitoring over 9 lakh possibly infected people across the country; the sample is taken if symptoms start showing. The Ministry states the surveillance is their primary weapon in the fight against COVID-19. The Health Minister has requested the Red Cross to ensure sufficient blood stocks by promoting voluntary blood donation and providing facilities for picking up and dropping off, to donors.

Health Minister has suggested Red Cross Society to coordinate with recovered #COVID19 patients who can be mobilised for blood donation, from which convalescent plasma could be used for transfusion to Corona affected patients for early recovery - @MoHFW_INDIA #IndiaFightsCorona

— PIB India #StayHome #StaySafe (@PIB_India) April 24, 2020

The Minister has suggested the Red Cross Society to coordinate with recovered COVID-19 patients who can be mobilized for blood donation, from which convalescent plasma could be used for transfusion to Corona affected patients for early recovery. The Health Minister also requested the states to ensure to avoid the unnecessary stigma attached to COVID-19. He said that health-seeking behavior in the community should be encouraged so that people seek immediate treatment.

During initial period of lockdown, doubling time of cases decreased since people infected already were being detected, later it improved as lockdown put a brake on the spread of the infection - Director, NCDC#IndiaFightsCOVID19 https://t.co/CKegYpfFIt pic.twitter.com/k95CGRHwR7

— PIB India #StayHome #StaySafe (@PIB_India) April 24, 2020

The Health Minister has asked the states to focus on districts reporting high number of cases or having a fast case doubling rate or districts with high case mortality. The Ministry also highlighted its milestones among which stopping international fights was a crucial one. This step prevented in stopping the further spread of the deadly infection. The Ministry said the government took suitable steps on time to prohibit the internal community transmission of the disease.