Health Ministry denies Punjab CM's claim of community transmission in State

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Friday denied Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh's claim of community transmission of COVID-19 in the State.

Responding to a question during the daily COVID-19 press conference, Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry, said that there is no community transmission in the country yet and there is no need to panic.

"Today, the challenge is not local or community transmission. Whenever the community transmission stage comes, we will inform you. There is no community transmission in the country yet. There is no need to panic," Aggarwal said.

He also informed that only two per cent out of 16,002 tests tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday.

"Yesterday, we conducted 16,002 tests. Only 2 per cent of cases tested positive. On the basis of the samples collected, the infection rate is not high. Rapid diagnostics kits have also been sanctioned," he added.

According to the World Health Organisation, community transmission is "evidenced by the inability to relate confirmed cases through chains of transmission for a large number of cases."

However, the WHO in the latest COVID-19 Situation Report number 80, has termed India's virus transmission classification as 'cluster of cases' and not 'community transmission' as of yet.

Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday said that with new cases emerging shows the possibility of community transmission of COVID-19 in the State as some of the patients have no travel history.

"In Punjab, 27 cases are there with no travel history. Yes, it can be said that most of them are cases of community transmission," he said.

So far 101 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed from Punjab, as the country's total cases rose to 6,412 on Friday, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Out of these, 5,709 are active COVID-19 cases, and 503 patients have recovered or discharged.