Jammu, Sept. 14 -- Four months of lockdown has prevented approximately 14-29 lakh cases and 37-78,000 deaths due to Covid-19, said Union health minister Harsh Vardhan on Covid-19 management during the first day of Parliament's monsoon session on Monday.

"These four months were utilised to create additional health infrastructure, enhance human resource and produce within India critical elements such as PPEs, N-95 masks and ventilators. A case in point is the increase in dedicated isolation beds 36.3 times and dedicated ICU beds above 24.6 times to what existed in March 2020. Whereas there was no indigenous manufacturing of PPE, with the requisite standards, at that point in time, we are now self-sufficient and, in a position to even expor...