Time of Doubling of the Cases of COVID-19 in the Last 3 Days was 13.6 Days : Harshvardhan

New Delhi : Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Sunday said that the time of doubling of cases of coronavirus infection in India in the last three days has been 13.6 days as compared to 11.5 days in the last 14 days. About five thousand cases of coronavirus have been reported in the country on Sunday. Harsh Vardhan said that the death rate has come down to 3.1 percent and the recovery rate has improved and it has gone up to 37.5 percent. Proving its point that the pace of spread of infection in the country is slow.

Harshvardhan said that the number of cases of coronavirus in India reached 80 thousand in 106 days, while in Britain, Italy, Spain, Germany and America it took 44 to 66 days to reach this number. Eight states and union territories – Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Ladakh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Puducherry and Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Dadar and Nagar Haveli – have not reported any cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours.

He said in a statement that no cases have been reported so far in Sikkim, Nagaland, Daman and Diu and Lakshadweep. The fourth phase of nationwide lockdown will begin in the country from today, i.e. 18th May. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on Sunday announced to extend the nationwide lockdown till 31 May. The NDMA said in its order that the lockdown measures implemented to deal with COVID-19 need to be implemented for another 14 days.

According to the Union Health Ministry, the number of deaths from COVID-19 in the country has increased to 3,025 and the total number of cases has reached 95,698. 152 people have died in the last 24 hours while 5,049 new cases have been reported. The ministry said 36,795 patients have been cured and one patient has gone out of the country. “Thus far 37.51 per cent of the patients have been cured,” said a senior Health Ministry official.

Harsh Vardhan tweeted, “Due to India’s superior strategy in dealing with COVID-19, it took 106 days for the country to have 80 thousand cases whereas in countries like Britain, Italy, Spain, Germany and America it only took 44 to 66 days. I truly believe that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we will win this war against the epidemic.” The Union Health Minister said that simple sanitation measures such as washing hands with soap or using sanitizers, not spitting on public places and use masks in public places etc. can save us from coronavirus.