India not in community transmission, says ICMR amid COVID-19 rising cases

ICMR on Thursday claimed that the country was not in the 'community transmission' phase, despite the daily spike in coronavirus cases across India. ICMR DG Balram Bhargava said that the prevalence of the infection is at less than one per cent in the small districts, while it is just over one per cent in the urban areas

New Delhi: There is no community transmission of COVID-19 in the country according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Thursday.

Professor (Dr) Balram Bhargava, DG, ICMR, at a press conference in New Delhi said that the prevalence of the infection is at less than one per cent in the small districts, while it is just over one per cent in the urban areas.

"India is such a large country and prevalence is very low that we have found that prevalence is less than one per cent in the small districts, in the urban areas it might be a little over one per cent and slightly higher in containment areas. India is not in community transmission," Bhargava said.

He, however, added that the country needs to continue with the strategy of testing, tracing, tracking, and quarantine and continue containment measures as they have been successful so far. "The guard should not be let down now," he added.

Speaking about the number of tests being carried out in the country, Prof Bhargava said, "We are now conducting 1.51 lakh tests per day, as of yesterday, and have the capacity to conduct up to 2 lakh tests per day. We also crossed the 50 lakh tests conducted mark a few days back."

He also urged the state governments to use both government and private labs to ramp up testing in the country.

ANI