COVID-19: Doubling time of cases in Maharashtra is the fastest

Pune: In Maharashtra, the doubling time of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) cases was the fastest compared to the rest of the country. 

However, the ongoing lockdown has delayed the doubling time to seven days in the State.

What is doubling time?
Amol Naikawadi, Joint Managing Director at Indus Health Plus said that in simple terms, the doubling rate is the time that the COVID-19 cases take to double in number. 

"Yes, in India, the number of days I'm which the cases are doubling has increased to 9.1 days. Similarly, in Maharashtra, we are observing the same trend. Besides this, we are also noticing an improvement as far as the recovery rate and death rate are concerned and that is relatively better than most of the countries," said Naikawadi.

India much better than other countries
Speaking to Sakal Times, Dr Mahesh Lakhe, Internal medicine department of Columbia Asia Hospital said that as compared to other countries like USA and Italy, India has been successful till now in controlling the number of cases as shown in the graph above and limiting the deaths.

"India is still in the growth phase of pandemic, so the total confirmed cases continue to rise. The speed of growth has been falling significantly since 6th April. Last two days, however, seen some reversals. Active cases growing at 5.8 per cent so doubling in 12days," said Lakhe.

Reduction in doubling time
Speaking about the delayed doubling time in Maharashtra, Dr Avinash Bhondwe, President of Indian Medical Association (IMA) Maharashtra state said that earlier it was two and half days for Maharashtra and now the doubling time has increased to seven days. 

"This shows the curve is flattening. And it also shows that the epidemic control can be achieved if not stopped. The doubling rate has been reduced due to the ongoing lockdown and physical social distancing," said Dr Bhondwe.

He further added that the lockdown in red zones is likely to be continued.

"As the cases are still high in red zones, the lockdown may continue in cities like Pune and Mumbai where the cases are high in number," said Dr Bhondwe.

Sharing similar views, Amol Naikawadi added that the efforts taken by the government for a very bold step of total lockdown in the country is appreciated.

"Along with the cluster management and containment strategy otherwise, the situation would have been out of control. We believe that in order to extend the doubling rate further and to control the transmission of COVID-19, an extension in the lockdown looks essential," said Naikawadi.

In Numbers 
India

• 63 days: Time it took India to reach the 2,000 cases mark. 
• 66th day: India reached 4,000 cases mark, i.e. after three days. 
• 72nd day: Cases touched the 8,000 mark.
• 80th day: Count reached 16,000 in India.

Pune doubling time

• As per Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) report published on April 24, till April 10, the doubling rate in PMC was five days. 
• Number of cases doubled between April 10 to April 15, i.e. six days. 
• The next doubling of cases happened. from April 15 to April 26 i.e. eight days.