Luckily, we don't have community transmission, only few cases that have come from outside: Health ministry

Union Ministry of Health on Thursday said that right now for India there's no community transmission, there are only a few cases that have come from outside and they have primarily affected their close kin.

Speaking on the current situation due to COVID-19 in the country, Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Union Health Ministry said: "Right now, luckily for India, we do not have any community transmission. We have only a few cases that have come from outside and they have primarily affected their close family members."

Aggarwal added that Visa-free travel facility granted to Overseas Citizen Of India (OCI) cardholders are kept in abeyance till April 15, 2020. This will come into effect from 1200 GMT on March 13, 2020, at the port of departure.

"So far, the Government of India has evacuated 900 Indian citizens along with 48 belonging to other nations like Maldives, Myanmar, Bangladesh, China, US, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Nepal, South Africa, and Peru," said Aggarwal.

"52 testing facilities are located across the country. There are a total of 56 sample collection centres. We already have around 1 lakh testing kits available, additional testing kits have already been ordered and they are also in procurement," he added.

The Joint Secretary added that the mask is not always necessary, if a person maintains effective social distance, the mask is not needed. There is no need to panic.

With fresh cases reported from Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Ladakh, the number of people who are COVID-19 positive has gone up to 73, the Union health ministry said on Thursday.

A total of 10,57,506 passengers have been screened at airports, the ministry said.