As India's COVID-19 count crosses 5-lakh mark, medical experts say people should strictly follow guidelines

India's COVID-19 tally crossed the five lakh mark on Saturday and it stands at 5,08,953, with the death toll at 15,685 according to Union Health Ministry. On the other hand, Delhi has 28,329 active cases with the total count reaching 80,188 and 2,558 deaths.

In this regard, medical experts told that the rise in cases in India is still not high as compared to other countries but said that people should follow COVID-19 guidelines such as wearing face masks.

Dr Suresh Kumar, Medical Director, Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) Hospital said that urban mobility is a likely cause in the spike in cases.

"I think as the numbers are rising, protection is must and we must follow the guidelines by the government wholeheartedly. There is a lot of urban mobility, especially in Delhi and Mumbai which may be a cause for the spike. The population density increases the chances of spreading the infection further. However, our recovery rate is also steadily rising which is encouraging," Dr Kumar said.

Dr SP Byotra, Chairman, Department of Medicine, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital said, "We are yet to reach the optimum number of cases. However, there has been flouting of rules by people. We have been continuously insisting that wearing masks is of foremost importance and mandatory. We should be more responsible as a nation until there is specific treatment/vaccination available."

In addition, Dr Byotra said, "One more important factor is testing. Now, almost 20,000 tests are being conducted which is helping in the detection of cases and ascertain whether they are symptomatic or asymptomatic."

The Delhi government, in its media bulletin, stated that 19,180 tests were conducted on Saturday taking the total tests to 4,78,336.

Dr Randeep Guleria, Director, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), told , "Rise in cases in India is still not as high as compared to other countries. In the United States, there have been almost 40,000 cases per day in the last two days. Compared to that, our numbers are not that high."

"Cases per million population continues to be low and we still have low mortality. Considering the size of our population, the number of cases will be large in absolute terms. But if we are able to keep mortality down, it will be a big success for the country," he said.

Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan stated that the COVID-19 recovery rate has surged over 58 per cent in India with around three lakh cured and discharged patients.

( With inputs from ANI )