Community spread of Coronavirus in Delhi?

New Delhi, June 09: Health Minister Satyendra Jain hinted at possible community spread in Delhi as the source of infection for more than 50 per cent cases in the national capital remains untraceable.

"The AIIMS director has spoken about community spread but the central government is not accepting it," Delhi minister Satyendra Jain said on Tuesday.

"We can say that [there is community spread] only when Centre admits it... Community spread is when there are cases in which source [of infection] cannot be ascertained... Almost half of our cases are like this," the health miniter said.

However, the central government has flately denied that India is community transmission stage of SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus -2) and said that the country is witnessing local transmission, clusters and large outbreaks in some places.

Delhi minister Satyendra Jain added that the source of about 50 per cent of coronavirus cases in Delhi is not known.

Jain said the current doubling rate of Covid-19 cases in Delhi is 14 days. So the national capital, as per that estimation, is likely to see over 56,000 cases by the end of the next two weeks.

What is community transmission?

Community transmission is when there is no clear source of origin of the infection in a new community. It happens when you can no longer identify who became infected after being exposed to someone who interacted with people from the originally infected communities.

On Monday, Delhi recorded 1,007 fresh coronavirus cases, taking the COVID-19 tally in the city to over 29,000, while the death toll due to the disease mounted to 874.

Barring June 1, when Delhi saw a spike of 990 cases, it has been recording over 1,000 fresh cases every day from May 28 to June 7, the highest being 1,513 on June 3.