1.4-2.9 million COVID cases averted due to lockdown, says Centre citing statistical models

Between 1.4 million to 2.9 million COVID-109 cases on an average have been averted due to the implementation of lockdown, the Centre informed on Friday. Citing several estimates based on statistical models, the Centre has also claimed to avoid 78,000 deaths due to the lockdown. The country has so far reported 1,18,447 cases of Coronavirus and 3,583 deaths. The total number includes 66,330 active cases and 48,534 cases that have recovered. 

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Secretary of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation Pravin Srivastava stated n Friday that the Boston Consulting Group (BSG) has estimated that 36-70 lakh cases were averted due to the lockdown while 1.2-2.1 lakh deaths have been avoided. Addressing a press briefing, Srivastava said, "Our ministry has worked with the Indian Statistical Institute. We observed that we have averted 20 lakh cases and 54,000 deaths were averted. By and large, we have found that we have averted 14 lakh to 29 lakh cases and deaths averted can vary from 37,000-78,000."

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Lockdown announced on March 24

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced a 14-hour long Janta Curfew on March 22 and went on to impose a nationwide lockdown on March 24, in an attempt to curb the spread of the virus. The first case of Coronavirus was reported on January 30 in Kerala and with the number of cases continuing to rise since then, the country now has the 11th highest number of cases globally, according to Worldometer. Earlier, the NITI Aayog had reported that the daily number of cases reported would reach nil on May 16. However, the government has announced certain relaxations as the country remains in the fourth phase of the lockdown till May 31.

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(with inputs from ANI)