No community spread, coronavirus in local transmission stage: Govt

The coronavirus pandemic is in the local transmission stage in India and there is still no sign of community spread, the government said on Monday, as the total number of cases rose to 1,071 and the death toll stood at 29.

 

Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health, said that 92 new cases and four deaths due to coronavirus have been reported in India since Sunday. "It took 12 days for cases to rise from 100 to 1,000 in our country, whereas seven other developed nations having lesser population than us have seen multiple increase," he said, as quoted by news agency PTI.
 

 

The government attributed the slow pace of rise in cases to successful implementation of lockdown and people strictly adhering to rules and guidelines.

 

Underlining the importance of social distancing, Agarwal said even one person's carelessness can lead to the spread of this pandemic.

 

He, however, said instead of panic, there is a need for creating awareness about COVID-19.
 

 

"Technically, COVID-19 is still in the local transmission stage in the country as there has been no community transmission as of now," he said, adding, "If there will be a community transmission we will want to covey it to the community through you (media) to increase the level of alertness and management for COVID-19 at the field level."