With US President Donald Trump describing hydroxychloroquine as a “game changer” in the fight against COVID-19 and several countries, including India, approving it for emergencies, pharmacies are reporting a surge in demand for the drug yet to be proven as a cure for the virus.

The lockdown period provides the country a window of opportunities to act positively and be prepared to face any eventuality, Gauba told chief secretaries of all states and UTs through video conference.

“Next few days will be very important for all and we need to sustain our containment efforts and utilize all available resources as per the requirement,” he said.

On Sunday, the officials said they are also looking at the possibility of redesigning some welfare and other government schemes to suit the post-lockdown situation.

While the government does plan to review the lockdown, set to end on April 14, three senior officials told Reuters this will depend on an assessment of the situation in each state, and lockdowns and restrictions would be extended in districts where the coronavirus case spread has continued.

Sharing the age-group analysis of COVID-19 patients, Agarwal said the maximum 42 per cent are of 21-40 years, 33 per cent of 41-60 years, 17 per cent are above 60 years and 9 per cent are of 0-20 years.

The elderly people and those with other medical complications are said to be at higher risk in this pandemic. In Delhi also, five of the six COVID-19 patients who have died were above 60.

“Testing and treatment of COVID-19 is already available for free in public facilities. Now, more than 50 crore citizens, eligible under the health assurance scheme will be able to avail free testing through private labs and treatment for COVID-19 in empanelled hospitals,” it said in a statement.

The move comes in the wake of the country reporting 3072 COVID-19 cases including 75 deaths so far.The results of antibody tests similar to blood tests are available in 15-30 minutes.

“Although there is no evidence of widespread community transmission, 20 existing and 22 potential hotspots have been identified. The containment measures to break the cycle of transmission and clinical management of those affected would require large human resources,”

“The cases can be traced in Andaman and Nicobar, Assam, Delhi, Himachal, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh,” added Aggarwal.