Good news amidst the gloom: COVID-19 cases, 40 per cent down since April 1

New Delhi, Apr 18: In some good news amidst the gloomy situation, India has witnessed a significant decline in the number of COVID-19 cases since April 1. India has witnessed a decline of 40 per cent cases since April 1, when compared to a fortnight earlier.

The doubling rate too fell from every three days to 6.2 days, the government said. This has been attributed to both the lockdown and social distancing measures.

We have seen an average growth factor of 1.2 since April 1. Between March 15 and March 31, the growth factor was 2.1 and this means that an average decline of 40 per cent of COVID-19 cases, joint secretary in the health ministry, Lav Agarwal said.

There has been an improvement in the recovery rate as well. As on Thursday, Kerala recorded the maximum recoveries at 245, followed by Telangana with 186. Tamil Nadu recorded 180 recoveries, while in the case of Maharashtra and Rajasthan, it was 164 each.

Delhi recorded only 51 or 3 per cent recoveries of the 1,640 cases. This is largely attributed to the outbreak thanks to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation.

Kerala reported just 32 cases between April 11 and 17, while 129 patients recovered during this period. Agarwal said that 19 states and Union Territories, including Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Bihar, Haryana and Ladakh recorded a doubling rate lower than the country's average. We need to be more vigilant to reduce the doubling rate, he also said.