New Delhi, May 30: India has managed to "distribute" the coronavirus (COVID-19) curve due to the implementation of the nationwide lockdown, said Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director Dr Balram Bhargava. Speaking to a newspaper, Dr Balram Bhargava also said India has managed to keep morality rate low and the country is better placed than many other nations. The ICMR has been tasked to contain the spread of coronavirus. India Records Highest Single-Day Spike of 7,965 COVID-19 Cases in Past 24 Hours, Death Toll Mounts to 4,971, Over 11,000 Recover.

Asked if he is worried about the rising number of daily coronavirus cases, Dr Bhargava said: "What we have done in our country is not flatten the curve, but distributed the curve in the sense that the curve may be longer but it is not that high. This has happened because of implementation of the lockdown. Now, when we are opening the lockdown, behavourial practices have clearly changed. Hopefully, we are able to strike a balance between some level of immunity, some level of vaccine, some level of medication." Coronavirus in India: Live Map.

Speaking to mortality rate, the ICMR chief said: "We have been able to take care of mortality. It is obviously open to question as to why mortality is low in our country but early diagnosis is one aspect and also because we probably have higher immunity. Deaths were our only concern from day one." Acknowledging that it is impossible to test everyone in India, he said like many other countries India is testing those with COVID-19 symptoms.

Asked whether community transmission has already begun, Dr Bhargava said: "There are clusters which are clearly there and we are doing the national serosurvey of more than 24,000 individuals to check that. Perhaps it is important to understand that it is increasing transmission that is a cause of worry."

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 30, 2020 12:28 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).