New Delhi: Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan today said four months of lockdown has prevented approximately 14–29 lakh cases and 37–78,000 deaths due to Covid-19.
Presenting a statement in Parliament, he said, ‘These four months were utilised to create additional health infrastructure, enhance human resource and produce within India critical elements such as PPEs, N-95 masks and ventilators.
A case in point is the increase in dedicated isolation beds 36.3 times and dedicated ICU beds above 24.6 times to what existed in March 2020.
Whereas there was no indigenous manufacturing of PPE, with the requisite standards, at that point in time, we are now self-sufficient and, in a position to even export the same.’
He added that India has been able to limit its cases and deaths per million to 3,328 and 55 respectively, which is one of the lowest in the world as compared to similarly affected countries.
The maximum cases and deaths have been primarily reported from Maharashtra, Andhr Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, West Bengal, Bihar, Telangana, Odisha, Assam, Kerala and Gujarat.
All these states have reported at least 100,000 cases, the Minister said.