Saved India from COVID-19 stage-III: Health Minister Harsh Vardhan

Health Minister Harshvardhan on Friday said the efforts in tackling Covid-19 had saved the country from going into Stage-III of the outbreak and asked state governments to keep up vigil on the pandemic.

In a video conference with health ministers of states, Harshvardhan said positive cases of Covid-19 were stable at around four per cent of the total samples tested which was a heartening indicator when compared with other countries.

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“We are all worried if we are in Stage-III, but we have been able to save the country largely from going into Stage-III. We have all the information connected with clusters and hotspots,” he said.

On the rapid antibody tests, the minister said the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) was conducting controlled tests of the kits imported from China that were distributed to several states but were found to be faulty.

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“We will return these kits if they are found to be faulty. We have not even made the payment for the kits,” he said.

Harshvardhan told the state ministers that the rapid antibody tests were to be used for surveillance purposes in Covid-19 hotspots and not for a diagnosis.

He noted that the knowledge about the virus was limited and experts around the world were making efforts to understand it better.

“We have fewer cases per million. We have a mortality of 3%, which is less. The recovery rate of patients, who contracted viral infection, is better than the world. In March, the doubling rate of coronavirus cases was 3 days; today it is close to 9 days,” the minister adding that the health care sector was well placed to tackle the outbreak.

“All over the country wherever the virus is active, we have full information. And, we also know what we have to do to tackle this virus in these areas,” Harshvardhan said.