New Delhi, July 22: The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday acknowledged efforts taken by India to contain the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19). Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia, said India is responding to COVID-19 pandemic "with utmost urgency from start". She also said it is understandable that all areas in India may not be well-prepared given the vast population of the country. People More Vulnerable to COVID-19 Infection at Home, Finds Study.

"India is responding with utmost urgency to COVID-19 from start. It's been continually strengthening preparedness and response measures, including ramping up testing capacities, readying more hospitals, arranging and stocking up medicines and essentials," Dr Singh said. "We are aware of varying capacities at sub-national levels. Not unusual in the country as big as India, and its population size, that measures taken may often not be uniformly sufficient across all areas," she added. COVID-19 Vaccine: Serum Institute Will Make 300-400 Million Doses of 'Covishield' Ready by December 2020, Says Adar Poonawalla.

The WHO South-East Asia chief stressed that India must continue scale-up capacities and responses amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Earlier, WHO hailed efforts taken to contain the spread of coronavirus in Maharashtra's Dharavi, known as Asia's largest slum. Dharavi, once a hotspot for coronavirus (COVID-19) spread, has emerged as a successful containment model. Some 6.5 lakh people are estimated to live in Dharavi which is spread over 2.5 square kilometres, making it vulnerable for the community transmission.

"There are many examples from around the world that have shown that even if the COVID-19 outbreak is very intense, it can still be brought back under control. In Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, New Zealand, Italy, Spain, South Korea and even in Dharavi...a densely packed area in Mumbai, a strong focus of community engagement and basics of testing, tracing, isolation and treating the sick is key to breaking chains of transmission and suppressing the virus," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

India on Wednesday reported 37,724 fresh COVID-19 cases in 24 hours with the tally barely 7,000 short of the 12-lakh-mark, as the Union Health Ministry data revealed total coronavirus cases at 11,92,915. With 648 fresh deaths the toll touched 28,732, and the recovery rate stood at 63.12 per cent with as many as 7,53,050 cured, which is almost twice the number of active patients at 4,11,133.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 22, 2020 05:58 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).