COVID-19 Cases Doubling Rate Slows To 7.5 Days Compared To 3.4: Centre

The doubling rate of Coronavirus cases has slowed down, the government said today – going from 3.4 days before lockdown to 7.5 days. "Based on the last seven days, India's doubling rate has improved to 7.5%," senior health ministry official Lav Agarwal told the media today.

The doubling rate of the cases is considered a marker of how fast the infection is spreading. On that basis, the government earlier said the three-week lockdown proved effective and extended it till May 3.

The country so far had 17,265 cases of coronavirus and saw the largest single-day spike over the last 24 hours, when 1,540 cases were detected. The data from Union Health Ministry also shows that 543 people have died. Thirty-six deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.

After a big spike on April 14 with 1,464 cases, the graph declined for four days. But there has been a steady increase in cases over the last two days. Yesterday, 1324 cases were detected and the corresponding figure today was 1,540.

Till April 19, the health ministry said today, 18 states did better than the national average. Many states and Union Territories have a doubling rate of less than 20 days.

"Delhi has doubling rate of 8.5 days, Karnataka -- 9.2 days, Telangana -- 9.4 days, Andhra Pradesh -- 10.6 days, Jammu and Kashmir -- 11.5 days, Punjab -- 13.1 days, Chhattisgarh -- 13.3 days, Tamil Nadu -- 14 days and Bihar -- 16.4 days," he said.

Many states and Union Territories have a doubling rate of 20 to 30 days, he said. The list includes Andaman and Nicobar, which takes 20.1 days, Haryana (21 days), Himachal Pradesh (24.5 days), Chandigarh  (25.4 days), Assam (25.8 days), Uttarakhand (26.6 days) and Ladakh (26.6 days).

Some states, Mr Agarwal said, are showing a doubling rate of over 30 days, like Odisha and Kerala. The latter has almost flattened the coronavirus curve, state minister Thomas Issac said last week.

The ministry also said there has been no case of coronavirus for 4 days in 59 districts across the country. In Goa, which saw seven cases of coronavirus, all patients have been discharged and no further cases have been detected.