The number of COVID-19 positive cases in India nearing the six-digit mark has disproved an assessment by V.K. Paul, NITI Aayog member and head of a government-empowered committee on medical management.
Also read: Rise in COVID-19 cases expected to stabilise any time soon, says Niti Aayog member V.K. Paul
On April 24, Mr. Paul, an internationally acclaimed paediatrician, made a presentation at the daily Health Ministry briefing, detailing how the lockdown helped to curtail the spread of the novel coronavirus. His presentation suggested that the first lockdown had prevented India from seeing a 1,00,000 cases in April. It had also slowed the rate of transmission and increased the doubling time, the period it took for cases to double, to about 10 days.
However, included in this was a PowerPoint slide that projected the benefits from “extending the lockdown” beyond April 15. This had a curve showing the number of active cases plummeting to zero by May 16.
From May 3, India would hit its peak in adding daily new cases at a little above 1,500, and this would drop to 1,000 cases by May 12, and down to ze