Govt panel: Covid-19 peaked in India, lockdown prevented deaths

A government-appointed scientific committee has said the Covid-19 epidemic seems to have peaked and is now on the decline, and is likely to run its course by February next year. The committee, headed by Professor M Vidyasagar of IIT Hyderabad, has used computer models to map the trajectory of the epidemic in the country. Its key finding has been that the disease is likely to have peaked in the middle of September, and the total number of infections in India is unlikely to exceed 10.6 million. So far, 75 lakh people in India have been infected, of which nearly 66 lakh have recovered. The committee claimed that the lockdown imposed in March has had a powerful impact on slowing down the spread of the disease in the country. In the absence of the lockdown, the death count would have gone up to 25 lakh, it said. As of now, 1.14 lakh people have died in India because of the disease.