On community spread of COVID-19, IMA issues clarification

New Delhi, July 20: Two days after the Chairperson of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) Hospital Board of India, Dr V K Monga said that community transmission of COVID-19 in India ha started, the IMA has now clarified on the matter.

In an official statement, the IMA said that the statement should be considered a matter of personal opinion.

"It is for the official agencies to ascertain this stage in the natural history of the epidemic. Crowd sourcing data cannot replace authentic data," the statement read.

"All presumptions in this regard should be considered a matter of personal opinion," the statement also added.

The IMA also expressed confidence that the public health authorities and the medical fraternity are fully engaged and prepared in containing the fallout. Clusters are in urban metros and not in the countryside where open spaces are the rule.

On Saturday Dr Monga had said that the community spread of the COVID-19 has started in India and added that the situation is pretty bad.

"This is now an exponential growth. Every day the number of cases is increasing by more than around 30,000. This is really a bad situation for the country. There are so many factors connected with it but overall this is now spreading to rural areas. This is a bad sign. It now shows a community spread," he was quoted by ANI as saying.