“We can consider we are in community transmission stage only when there are about 20 to 30 per cent cases with no clue on how they got the virus,” Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Union health ministry said.
New Delhi, March 26:
India is not in the community transmission stage of novel coronavirus pandemic, Union health ministry said on Thursday. A senior ministry official said that if and when India registers community transmission of the deadly virus, people will be informed for their safety.
Talking to media during the daily presser, head scientist of ICMR Dr Raman R Gangakhedkar said that there was no hard evidence to say there has been community transmission of the novel coronavirus in India. Dismissing claims that lack of travel or contact history of a Hyderabad positive case reflected that India was in the community transmission stage, Dr Gangakhedkar said that if we can’t figure out how one-two people got the virus it just means that we have not done enough to trace the history.
“We can consider we are in community transmission stage only when there are about 20 to 30 per cent cases with no clue on how they got the virus,” Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Union health ministry said.
“If India enters that stage, we will not hide it. We will tell people so that we can step up the level of alertness and awareness,” Lav Aggarwal said.
The health ministry officials also dismissed international studies saying that India may face a staggering number of cases in the near future as doomsday predictors.
On being asked about the predictions of a University of Michigan study, which says India could face between 100,000 to 13 lakh confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus by mid-May, Dr Gangakhedkar said that there would be many doomsday predictors, but if the current lockdown is successful then we may not even see the current numbers budge.
The latest number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in India is 656 with 14 deaths. The health ministry data, however, says 649 cases.
Speaking on the issues, Lav Aggarwal said, “If we collectively work for it and follow guidelines issued by the government, we will soon be able to say that we have proved all these predictions wrong.”
At the presser, Lav Aggarwal said that the social distancing has been able to help break the chain of Covid-19 spread. “While the numbers of Covid-19 cases are increasing, the rate at which they are increasing appears to be relatively stabilising. However, this is only the initial trend,” he said.
A senior home ministry official said that the government was working to ensure the supply of essentials. “The government is taking steps to ensure that production, supply or distribution of essential goods and services do not get affected during coronavirus lockdown. States are working to provide food and shelter to migrant workers,” Punya Salila Srivastava, Joint Secretary, MHA said.
The health ministry said that 17 states have started work on earmarking hospitals for dedicated treatment of Covid-19 patients.
Courtesy: India TV
