While the country is battling the outbreak of the COVID-19, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Director has suggested that India's trajectory is satisfactory as compared to the other countries as "the doubling time has decreased."

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Speaking to IANS, the AIIMS Director said, "In my opinion, the trajectory in our country is satisfying, if you see, the doubling time has slowed down and we haven't seen a steep rise in the number of cases as we saw in Italy, US, Spain and other countries. In some parts of the country the cases have started to decline."

Untill April 17 morning, the total number of coronavirus cases in India reached 13,387 on April 17 morning, including 76 foreign nationals, with 11,201 active cases, the Union Health Ministry said. When asked if anti-malarial drug HCQ is capable enough, the Director said, "There are a few studies that show that HCQ has capabilities to decrease the viral load." "Based on a risk-benefit analysis, it was decided that doctors who are dealing with high-risk patients could take this drug under correct supervision to reduce the viral load. The use of HCQ is safe and it may help in decreasing the viral load," he added.

Since the Director is one of the key members of India's task force against COVID-19. About the next big step in dealing with the pandemic, he said, "Currently the biggest step we need to take is the aggressive lockdown in the hotspots so that we prevent large number of cases. "At the same time we should strengthen our medical infrastructure. Also, we should be prepared in case the number of cases increases, we make these facilities available," he said.

Reacting to the death of doctors treating COVID patients, he said, "Doctors are always at a higher risk as they are in close contact with the patients. The virus load increases when the patient reaches the ICUs." "Though the doctors take up all possible measures, there are times when immediate steps are required. For example, if you have a sick patient who crashes, the doctors don't get time to be prepared and that's where such things happen. For doctors, patients and their well-being are most important."