The coronavirus disease has not “exploded” in India, but the risk of that happening remains as the country moves towards removing its nationwide lockdown that was imposed in March to contain the Covid-19, a top WHO expert said.

India, which went past Italy on Friday to become the sixth worst-hit nation by the Covid-19 pandemic, is already witnessing huge spurt in cases each passing day.

WHO Health Emergencies Programme Executive Director Michael Ryan said the doubling time of the coronavirus cases in India is about three weeks at this stage. “Measures taken in India such as the nationwide lockdown has had an impact in slowing transmission but the risk of an increase in cases looms as the country opens up,” he said while stressing that as the disease generates and creates a foothold in communities, it can accelerate at any time as has been seen in a number of settings.

In South Asia, not just in India but in Bangladesh, Pakistan and other countries in South Asia, with large dense populations, the disease has not exploded. But there is always the risk of that happening, Ryan said in Geneva.

Ryan noted that measures taken in India such as the nationwide lockdown has had an impact in slowing transmission but the risk of an increase in cases looms as the country opens up.

“The measures taken in India certainly had an impact in dampening transmission and as India, as in other large countries, open up and as people begin to move again, there’s always a risk of the disease bouncing back up,” he said.

He added there are specific issues in India regarding a large amount of migration, the dense populations in the urban environment and the fact that many workers have no choice but to go to work every day.