New Delhi: The doubling of coronavirus COVID-19 cases in the country has started to reduce and has come down to 10.2 from 12 days, the Union Health Minister informed on Friday (May 8). The sharp fall in the doubling rate of the disease could be attributed to the rapid increase of cases in several states like Maharashtra, Gujarat and Delhi among others. 


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"Two days ago, the doubling rate was 12 which has now come down to 10.2 in the country, and 9.8 in Mumbai alone. This clearly indicts that cases have increased rapidly in the country," Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry said during the daily press briefing on coronavirus.


He added that the fatality rate, however, stands at 33 per cent. 


On April 30, the Health Ministry had stated that the national average of doubling time of the disease was at 11 days, compared to 3.4 days before lockdown. It highlighted that India is inching towards flattening the pandemic curve. "If we look at the doubling time of COVID-19 cases, we find that the national average is 11 Days now, compared to 3.4 days before lockdown," said Agarwal had stated during the press briefing.


He had also stated that a total of 16 states across the country had better doubling rate of COVID-19 cases than the national average. "The state with the highest number of doubling rate of COVID-19 cases is Himachal Pradesh at 191 days and Delhi records the lowest with 11.3 days," he said.


Data presented on April 30:


On April 30, a total of seven states had doubling rate between 11 days to 20 days -- Delhi (11.3 days), Uttar Pradesh (12 days), Jammu and Kashmir (12.2 days), Odisha (13 days), Rajasthan (17.8 days), Tamil Nadu (19.1 days), and Punjab (19.5 days). Another five states have doubling rate between 20 days to 40 days--Karnataka (21.6 days), Ladakh (24.2 days), Haryana (24.4 days), Uttarakhand (30.3 days), and Kerala (37.5 days).


Four states have doubling rate above 40 days--Assam (59 days), Telangana (70.8 days), Chattisgarh (89.7 days) and Himachal Pradesh (191.6 days).


Data presented on May 8:


No cases have been reported in 216 districts across the country so far. Agarwal stated that at least 42 districts have not reported any fresh case in the last 28 days; 29 districts reported no fresh cases in the last 21 days; 36 districts reported no fresh cases in the last 14 days, and 46 reported no fresh cases in the last 7 days.


"Some states have witnessed a rise in cases during the last few days. Need to strengthen containment efforts to stop the rise, along with proper adherence to measures such as physical distancing at field level. If we follow dos and don'ts, we may not reach the peak in the number of COVID-19 cases and our curve may remain flat," Agarwal said. "It is important to strengthen containment efforts in hard-hit states including Gujarat, Maharashtra, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh," he added.


As per Friday morning bulletin, India has so far has recorded 56,342 coronavirus cases and 1,886 deaths. A total of 1,273 people have been cured and 3,390 new cases have been reported in the last 24 hours.