India faces risk of coronavirus explosion, WHO expert`s warning
By: Team Ifairer | Posted: 06-06-2020
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According to WHO expert Michael Ryan, the doubling time of the coronavirus cases in India is about three weeks at this stage. However, Ryan, who is WHO's Health Emergencies Programme Executive Director, said the disease has not "exploded" in India, but the risk of that happening remains as the country moves towards unlocking its lockdown.
So the direction of travel of the epidemic is not exponential but it is still growing, he said, adding that the impact of the pandemic is different in different parts of India and varies between urban and rural settings. In South Asia, not just in India but in Bangladesh and...in Pakistan, other countries in South Asia, with large dense populations, the disease has not exploded. But there is always the risk of that happening," Ryan said in Geneva on Friday.
He stressed that as the disease generates and creates a foothold in communities, it can accelerate at any time as has been seen in a number of settings. Ryan noted that measures taken in India such as the nationwide lockdown have had an impact in slowing transmission but the risk of an increase in cases looms as the country opens up.