Covid-19 cases cross 1.25 lakh but lockdown saved lives

With 6,654 more positive coronavirus cases, confirmed by the Health Ministry, India has crossed the 1.25 lakh-mark. At the same time, 3,720 people have lost their lives while 51,783 people have recovered from the infection.

The last four days have seen a spike with each single day recording a new high. Maharashtra has the maximum number of cases with 44,582 active cases, 1,517 deaths and 12,583 recoveries. Tamil Nadu is number two with 14,753 cases and 98 deaths while Gujarat is third with 13,268 cases and 802 deaths.

The Indian capital has reported 12,319 cases with 208 fatalities and 5,897 people recovering from the disease.

On Friday the Central government presented various studies to prove that the lockdown had saved lives and curtailed the spread of the infection. Pravin Srivastava, Secretary in the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), highlighted various model-based estimates to say that the lockdown was effective.

He said according to the Boston Consulting Group, the lockdown saved between 1.2 lakh-2.1 lakh lives, while the number of Covid-19 cases averted has been between 36-70 lakh.

Citing the Public Health Foundation of India, Srivastava said nearly 78,000 lives were saved due to the lockdown.

Highlighting a model by two independent economists, he said that around 23 lakh cases and 68,000 deaths were averted due to the lockdown.

A joint study by MoSPI and the Indian Statistical Institute found that around 20 lakh COVID-19 cases and 54,000 deaths were averted due to the lockdown.

Srivastava said that taking all these into account, the number of coronavirus cases averted due to the lockdown ranges between 14-29 lakh, while lives saved is between 37,000-78,000..