NITI Aayog has come out with some encouraging picture on COVID-19 pandemic when one of its members stated that the rate of spread of Sars-Cov-2 has slowed sharply in the past month and will decelerate further as a result of the nationwide lockdown.

Dr Vinod Paul is a member of NITI Aayog and heads the empowered group overseeing the Covid-19 medical emergency management plan. As per him the number of infections is now doubling every week compared to 3.5 days in the second week of March. Dr Paul predicted that it would soon reach 10 days.

He along with home secretary Ajay Bhalla has been part of the task force to decide the lockdown period and how to emerge from it that’s when measures such as social distancing were announced, some states shut down selected areas and educational institutions started closing.

India’s infection rate again quickened in the next few days but that is because of the entire Tablighi Jamaat incident. Hundreds of Covid-19 positive cases started emerging from among people who participated in Jamaat’s congregation at Markaz headquarters in Nizamuddin. This has emerged as India’s biggest coronavirus hotspot.

India had 1,013 Covid-19 cases by March 29 but the daily increase over the next couple of days rose. Dr Paul said that it was back on a positive downward curve by April 4 when the doubling rate of infections started easing towards the current seven days.