Lockdown provided 'breathing space' to ramp up testing, health infrastructure: Govt

The lockdown provided a "breathing space" for the government to ramp up COVID-19 testing facilities and health infrastructure which ensured improved recovery rate by timely detection and clinical management of coronavirus cases, the health ministry said on Friday.

The Union health ministry assertion came on a day India saw another record spike of 13,586 new COVID-19 cases in a single-day, pushing the tally to 3,80,532, while the death toll rose to 12,573 with 336 new fatalities.

In some positive news, the number of recoveries crossed the two-lakh mark and stands at 2,04,710, while there are 1,63,248 total COVID-19 active cases, according to the updated ministry data at 8.00 am. One patient had migrated.

With the confirmation of 10,386 patients having recovered from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the total recovery rate consequently rose to 53.79 per cent.

The trend in the daily numbers shows an increasing rate of recovery, and an increasing gap between active and recovered cases, the ministry said.

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The increase in the proportion of recovered cases is a demonstration of India's strategy of timely management of COVID-19, it said.

"Proactive measures like implementation of lockdown, sensitisation of the general public to COVID-19 appropriate behaviour by the government of India in coordination with the states/union territories, have significantly restricted the spread," the ministry said.

"The lockdown provided a breathing space for the government to ramp up the testing facilities and health infrastructure which ensured improved recovery rate by timely detection and clinical management of COVID-19 cases," it said.

This increasing gap is thus a result of the timely, graded, pre-emptive approach of the government to contain COVID-19 and its implementation by countless frontline workers, the ministry said.

The nationwide lockdown was first announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 24 for 21 days in a bid to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The lockdown was first extended till May 3 and then again till May 17. It was further extended till May 31.

The lockdown is now restricted only in containment zones across the country and will continue till June 30. A large number of social, economic, religious and sports activities are currently allowed to function which the Ministry of Home Affairs termed "Unlock 1".

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The number of government laboratories has been increased to 703 and private labs has been increased to 257 (a total of 960).

In the last 24 hours, 1,76,959 samples were tested while the total number of samples tested thus far is 64,26,627, according to the official figures.

India registered over 10,000 cases for the eighth day in a row. The country has witnessed a surge of 1,89,997 infections from June 1 till 19 with Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh among the top five states that have seen a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases.

Of the 336 new deaths reported till Friday morning, 100 were in Maharashtra, 65 in Delhi, 49 in Tamil Nadu, 31 in Gujarat, 30 in Uttar Pradesh, 12 each in Karnataka and West Bengal, 10 in Rajasthan, six in Jammu and Kashmir, five in Punjab, four each in Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, three in Telangana, two in Andhra Pradesh and one each in Assam, Jharkhand and Kerala.

India is the fourth worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic after the US, Brazil and Russia.

According to the Johns Hopkins University, which has been compiling COVID-19 data from all over the world, India is at the eighth position in terms of the death toll.