Health Ministry: With lockdown COVID-19 cases are 23,000, without it would have been 73,000

Union Health Ministry while briefing the media over Coronavirus on Friday said, in last 24 hours, 1,684 COVID-19 positive cases have been reported which takes India's total confirmed cases to 23,077. India's recovery rate is 20.57%, said Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry.

In last 28 days, 15 districts have had no new case. Till date, there are 80 districts in the country that have reported no new cases in last 14 days, added the joint secretary.

Surveillance is our primary weapon in the fight against COVID-19. About 9.45 lakh people are on surveillance system, said Dr Sujeet Singh, Director, National Centre for Disease Control.

Our analysis shows lockdown has been effective in slowing the doubling rate of COVID-19 and saved lives. The lockdown decision was timely as the around 23,000 cases in India today could have been 73,000, said Dr VK Paul, Niti Aayog member and Chairman of Empowered Group 1.

Apart from 6 Inter-Ministerial Central Teams (IMCT) constituted earlier, Home Ministry today constituted four additional IMCTs, each headed by an Additional Secretary - level officer, to Ahmedabad, Surat, Hyderabad & Chennai, said Punya Salila Srivastava, Union Home Ministry.