Doubling time of virus goes up in 18 States

04/2020

Delhi (8.5) and Tamil Nadu (14) were also included in the Health Ministry’s list of regions that had doubling times under 20 days but these were also among the leading contributors to India’s case load. After Maharashtra, Delhi follows with 2,000 cases and Tamil Nadu is the fifth largest contributor with 1,477 cases.

Ladakh, Uttarakhand, Assam, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Andaman and Nicobar islands recorded doubling times of 20-30 days.

All COVID-19 patients in Goa were discharged after recovery, and the State now had no active cases.

Central teams

The Centre said it had constituted six Inter-Ministerial Central Teams (IMCTs), two each for West Bengal and Maharashtra and one each for Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan to combat the outbreak.

“Situation is specially serious in Indore (MP), Mumbai and Pune (Maharashtra), Jaipur (Rajasthan) and Kolkata, Howrah, Medinipur East, 24 Parganas North, Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Jalpaiguri in West Bengal,” a press release said and added that the teams would focus on complaints of implementation of lockdown measures as per guidelines, supply of essential commodities, social distancing, preparedness of health infrastructure, safety of health professionals and conditions of the relief camps for labour and poor people.

Several states — notably Delhi, Maharashtra and Karnataka — have said that a sizeable number of those testing positive appeared to be asymptomatic.

However, Raman Gangakhedkar, spokesperson for the Indian Council for Medical Research said there were no plans to change the testing criteria, which has been expanded.