Covid-19: In Phase 2, focus on checking spread to non-affected regions

NEW DELHI: As India goes into the second phase of lockdown, health ministry officials said the focus would now be on controlling the spread of Covid-19 from the affected areas to newer regions.

The health ministry said it takes nearly a month of zero-case reporting for the spread of the disease to be halted in a particular area.

“We believe that the disease spread has stopped in an area if there is no new case for 28 days,” Luv Aggarwal, joint secretary in the health ministry, said while justifying the need to extend the lockdown till May 3.

He added that during this period the focus is going to be on breaking the chain of transmission and to promote behavioural changes needed to fight this pandemic.

On Tuesday, India’s count of new Covid-19 cases returned to three figures with 944 fresh infections being reported, down from Monday’s peak of 1,276, but