ICMR: 80% of all Covid-19 cases are asymptomatic

NEW DELHI: Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has said that 80% of all Covid-19 cases stay asymptomatic.

ICMR chief Dr R Gangakhedkar said, "If 100 people have been infected by novel coronavirus, 80 of them will not exhibit any symptoms or mild symptoms of the disease."

"Our testing criteria is quite detailed it has provisions for testing symptomatic cases as well as people who are highrisk contacts of lab-confirmed cases," said Joint Secretary, Health, Lav Agarwal.

Agarwal had previously said that as the country is dealing with an infectious pandemic, the number of the cases may be exponential but the government is adequately prepared for management of coronavirus cases. Addressing the daily press briefing, Joint Secretary, Health, Lav Agarwal said: “This is a pandemic and numbers can be exponential. Our effort is to take advanced steps.”

Prime Minister Modi urged people to follow lockdown measures until May 3.

“Friends, keeping all the suggestions in mind, it has been decided that the lockdown in India will have to be extended till 3^rd May. That means until 3^rd May, each and every one of us, will have to remain in the lockdown. During this time, we must continue maintaining discipline in the way we have been doing till now,” he said during his address to the nation at 10 am.

“Therefore, we have to be very vigilant about hot-spots. We will have to keep a close and strict watch on the places which run the risk of becoming hot-spots. The creation of new hot-spots will further challenge our hard work and penance. Hence, let us extend the strictness and austerity in the fight against Corona for the upcoming one week,” he added.

The lockdown was about to end on April 14.

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