No COVID-19 case in 12 districts for 28 days, 78 districts go without fresh case in 14 days

Twelve districts in the country have not reported a fresh case of coronavirus infection for the last 28 days despite having reported COVID-19 patients before, the Centre said on Thursday.

There are 78 districts where no case has been reported in last 14 days, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said during a press briefing.

As of now, total 21,700 cases have been reported across the country while the death toll stands at 686. 4,325 people have been cured with a recovery rate of 19.93%.

Speaking during the press conference, Chairman of Empowered Group-2, CK Mishra who is coordinating the availability of hospitals, isolation & quarantine facilities, disease surveillance & testing and critical care training said the government has been able to cut transmission, minimize spread and increase the doubling time of COVID-19 during the 30 days of lockdown.

Testing capabilities have been ramped up and time has been utilised to prepare for the future, he said.

"One crucial weapon we employed during the 30-day lockdown period is RT-PCR testing. On March 23, 2020, we had done 14,915 tests, while on April 22, we had done more than 5 lakh tests. There has been an increase of around 33 times in 30 days," Mishra said.

Post lockdown, while the number of new positive COVID-19 cases has increased by 16 times, testing has increased by 24 times, he said.

The growth of COVID-19 cases has been more or less linear, not exponential; this indicates that the strategies we have adopted have succeeded in containing the infection to a particular level, he added.

"India has done better than the majority of developed countries, with respect to the % of test cases yielding positive results. A comparative study, held after 400 cases were reached in India and other countries, show that India's position is more advantageous than most other countries. The facts show that our testing strategy has been focused, targeted and continues to expand, this is an evolving strategy based on our learnings as we go along. As the challenge kept expanding, strategy too kept expanding," Mishra said.

Director General, ICMR, Balram Bhargava said that the nation’s philosophy has been more labs, more tests and more resources. From NIV at the beginning of the year and around 100 labs at the beginning of lockdown, we have 325 laboratories testing for COVID-19 today, he said.

“Our strategy has been to detect the virus and then save lives. The entire scientific and medical community has risen to the occasion. The private sector too has energetically risen to the occasion. A supply chain for testing has been created. The Centre has been working with states tirelessly to ensure required reagents are supplied to testing labs in timely and calibrated fashion, enabling diversion of reagents to hot spots as needed. We have also decentralized the supply chain and created 15 hubs to which materials are supplied and further distributed. The gold standard for COVID-19 testing remains and has remained the RT-PCR test, which detects the virus and thereby enables us to save lives. This has been our principle and strategy for testing," Bhargava added.

Director, AIIMS New Delhi, Prof Randeep Guleria said that the societal stigma attached with COVID-19 patients is leading many people to not come forward and get tested or treated, leading not only to huge mental agonies and problems but also higher morbidity and mortality.

Instead of sympathising with the patients and their family, we have created an environment of fear and panic which is not justified.

“Patients are facing a lot of challenges and stigma which is not justified. Recovered patients are symbols of victory, but we have stigmatized them, causing a huge problem. Due to the stigma we have attached, patients are not coming forward, they are coming very late when they have severe breathlessness issues, thereby increasing morbidity and mortality Many of these COVID-19 patients can be saved by just giving them oxygen; if they do not get oxygen, it can trigger various other problems, our strategy of expanding oxygen support is based on this.” He said that we need to reach out to these patients who are afraid to come out because of stigma and thereby posing a danger to their lives. “We should look at how we can support people and families who have COVID-19 and encourage people to come forward,” Guleria said.

He said the primary treatment for COVID-19 is supportive in more than 80% of patients, oxygen therapy in 15% of patients, with other drugs such as convalescent plasma.