Here's what Chhattisgarh did to efficiently battle the coronavirus pandemic

So the question arises, how Chhattisgarh managed to contain the spread of the virus?

The primary reason behind the low numbers is that the state had started screening incoming travellers at its lone airport in capital Raipur even before India registered its first positive case on January 31, explained Health and Rural Development Minister TS Singh Deo. The police had sealed its borders with Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh much before the national lockdown.

"We are dealing with the virus in a cautious and methodical manner," Deo, scion of the erstwhile Surguja royal family, said in an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18. "We have ordered 75,000 testing kits as a precautionary measure from a South Korean Company and we’re expecting deliveries on April 23," he added.

The kits are being procured from SD Biosensor – an ICMR-verified company – at a relatively lower cost.

"To a great extent, our success can be attributed three factors including luck, the state's advanced preparations in handling the cases and the minimal level of viral loads . The positivity with which our healthcare workers and administrative officials have been dealing with the inflow of patients, has been commendable," Deo highlighted.

The nationwide lockdown came into effect on March 25, but Chhattisgarh had restricted movement at malls, theatres and other crowded areas prior to that. The state's Director General of Police, DM Awasthi told CNBC-TV18 that authorities had anticipated a China-like situation and had immediately started examining people entering into the state from MP and Maharashtra. Soon we implemented our own lockdown across 28 districts.

Chhattisgarh has five testing centres spread across the state and positive patients are being segregated into three stages to provide them with relative treatment. There are 1,750, 400 and 816 beds earmarked for patients suffering from stage-I, II and III, respectively. The first patient, a girl who had travel history of UK tested positive on March 14 and was quarantined, the DGP said.

Inside isolation centres, the state has allocated 2,700 beds for patients entering stage-III of the infection, which it plans to increase to 8,000. Moreover, in power-hub Korba district, a 100-bed hospital will soon be dedicated for treating coronavirus patients. Additionally, 922 ventilator bed units have also been earmarked.

"Optimistically, I can say that I foresee only 10 percent of the state's population contracting the deadly virus," the health minister said. He also credited the people of his state for responding positively to state-run awareness campaigns.