Govt’s timely decisions, lockdown checked COVID deaths: Vardhan

NEW DELHI: The timely decisions taken by the government, including imposing a nationwide lockdown, helped in preventing approximately 37-38 thousand deaths due to coronavirus and 14-29 lakh people from getting infected, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Monday amid surging cases of COVID-19 in the country.
Making a statement in Lok Sabha on COVID pandemic and the seps taken by the Central government, Vardhan said in India about 92 percent of the reported cases have mild symptoms, while oxygen therapy was required in 5.8 percent cases and intensive care in 1.7 percent cases.
As on September 11, a total of 45,62,414 novel coronavirus cases and 76,271 deaths, with a case fatality rate of 1.67 per cent, have been reported in India, the Health Minister added.
Asserting that the Central government undertook the COVID-19 challenge with the highest level of political commitment, he said the nationwide lockdown, a bold decision, undertaken by the government duly involving community, initiated as self-imposed ‘Janta Curfew’ as per the call given by the Prime Minister is testimony to the fact that India has collectively stood up to manage COVID-19 and successfully blunted the its aggressive progression.
“It has been estimated that this decision prevented approximately 14 29 lakh cases and 37 78 thousand deaths,” he asserted, adding more than 35.42 lakh cases have recovered, equivalent to 77.65 per cent of the total cases.
“I wish to inform this house that the government is taking all necessary measures to prevent spread of the COVID in India,” he said.
The maximum cases and deaths from the infection have been primarily reported from Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, West Bengal, Telangana, Odisha, Assam, Kerala and Gujarat.
“All these states have reported more than 1 lakh cases,” the minister said.
As per the World Health Organization, there are more than 2.79 crore confirmed cases of COVID-19 across the world and more than 9.05 lakh deaths, with a case fatality rate of 3.2 per cent, he said.
Many of the epidemiological parameters like mode of transmission and subclinical infection were still being researched, the health minister said. (PTI)