India Lockdown: Coronavirus Could Have Infected 8.2 Lakh Without Lockdown: Centre

The Union health ministry on Saturday said the number of coronavirus cases in India would have shot up to 8.2 lakh by April 15 had the centre not enforced a nationwide lockdown and other containment measures.

"According to a statistical analysis by us, India would have registered a 41 per cent cumulative rise in the number of cases, taking the total to 2.08 lakh on April 11 and 8.2 lakh by April 15 had there been no lockdown or other containment measures," said Lav Agarwal, one of the most senior officials in the Union Health Ministry, in his daily briefing on Saturday.

The number of coronavirus cases and deaths are rising gradually in India but not as rapidly as in the United States and Europe.

The highly infectious coronavirus has killed 273 people in the country, with 34 new deaths reported since Saturday. The total number of positive coronavirus cases is now 8,356.

Mr Agarwal further said with containment measures but no lockdown, the number of cases would have risen to 1.2 lakh till April 15.

The officer also credited social distancing rules implemented by the centre across the country for the comparatively low coronavirus numbers.

"Since we started promoting social distancing and implemented the lockdown from March 25 along with other containment measures, there has been a decrease in cases," he added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the three-week lockdown last month to check the spread of the virus that has killed over a lakh people across the world.

On Saturday, in a four-hour meet with the Chief Ministers of 13 states via video conference, PM Modi indicated that the lockdown would be extended by two weeks till April 30.

After the meet, Maharashtra and Telangana announced that they will extend the complete shutdown till April 30.

(With inputs from PTI)