Covid 19: No community transmission yet, don't panic but remain alert, says health ministry

New Delhi, Apr 10: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Friday confirmed that India has not entered stage 3 of COVID-19 pandemic and maintained that there is no community transmission in the country so far while urging people to follow lockdown norms and social distancing properly.

Responding to a question over an ICMR study which stated that 40 out of 104 people having severe acute respiratory infection and later tested positive for coronavirus did not have any recent international travel history or contact with any confirmed cases of the disease, senior official of the ministry Lav Agarwal asserted, "No community transmission has happened in the country so far. There is no need to panic."

"If there would be, we would be first to tell you so as to alert people," the joint secretary in the ministry of health said at the daily media briefing.

''India has stock of 3.28 crore hydroxychloroquine tablets (HCQ) for meeting the current requirement,'' he said.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) came out with the findings after carrying out random coronavirus tests on 5,911 people suffering from severe acute respiratory infection in 52 districts in 20 states and union territories between February 15 and April 2.

Out of the total sample size, 104 people (1.8 per cent) were found to have contracted coronavirus. Of the 104, 40 of them did not have any recent international travel history or contact with any positive case of the infection, the study by the nodal medical research body said.

A total of 104 of the 5,911 patients with severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) tested positive for COVID-19, out of which 40 cases did not report any history of contact with a known case or international travel, according to the study which was conducted from February 15 to April 2.

The chances of getting infected among SARI patients increased from 0 per cent before March 14 to 2.6 per cent by April 2, the study which was released on Thursday said. Also, males accounted for higher number of COVID-19 cases and also patients aged above 50 years of age.

According to the study, which has been published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research, a total of (104) 1.8 per cent of the 5,911 SARI patients tested were positive for COVID-19. These cases were reported from 52 districts in 20 states and union territories.

In India, the initial COVID-19 testing strategy included people who had international travel history with symptoms, symptomatic contacts of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients and symptomatic healthcare workers managing respiratory distress/SARI.

In addition, to track the progression of the epidemic in the early phase, stored samples of SARI patients hospitalised since February 15 were also tested for COVID-19 under the Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratory Network (VRDLN).

Reacting to the study, Agarwal said, "Samples of most of the 104 positive cases in the study were picked up from our VRDL laboratories in locations that have reported cases of COVID-19." He said the study didn't say these people were from a place which reported no cases but added these cases should be further investigated.

According to the ICMR study, the chances of a severe acute respiratory infection patient getting infected with COVID-19 has increased from zero per cent before March 14 to 2.6 per cent by April 2.

The death toll due to the novel coronavirus rose to 206 and the number of cases climbed to 6,761 in the country on Friday registering a record jump of 896 cases in a 24-hour span, according to the Union Health Ministry.