Lockdown decelerated pace of spread of Covid-19: Health Ministry

Health Ministry has said that lockdown has garnered multiple gains and primarily it has decelerated the pace of spread of the disease.

According to the estimates made by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, a large number of deaths and cases have been averted.

At the same time, during the lockdown period, development of COVID-19 specific health infrastructure, increased testing capacity, vaccine research and on the technical side surveillance systems strengthened with more contact tracing, house to house surveys along with tools like Aarogya Setu was achieved.

The Ministry said, government is taking several steps along with the



States and Union territories for prevention, containment and management of COVID-19. It said, health infrastructure required for COVID-19 management was ramped up during the lockdown.

More than nine hundred dedicated COVID hospitals with over one lakh 58 thousand Isolation beds, over 20 thousand ICU beds and around 70 thousand Oxygen supported beds are available. The Centre has also provided over one crore 13 lakh N95 masks and around 90 lakh Personal Protective Equipment to the States and Union territories.

Health Ministry said, the fatality rate is 2.86 per cent whereas the world average is 6.36 per cent.