The Health Ministry on Thursday ruled out any community transmission in India, citing low COVID-19 prevalence less than 1% in small districts in a large country like India.
“For such a large country, COVID19 prevalence is so low, less than 1% in smaller districts slightly higher in cities and containment zones. So India is definitely not in community transmission,” ICMR DG Balram Bhargava said in a media briefing on COVID-19.
Here are the key takeaways from the presser:
– The states cannot lower their guard and need to keep on implementing effective surveillance and containment strategies preventing the spread of COVID19: ICMR
– Non Pharmacological Interventions such as physical distancing, use of face mask/cover, hand hygiene, cough etiquette must be followed strictly: ICMR
– India recorded 0.59 deaths per lakh population, which is amongst the lowest in the world.
– To keep the pandemic at these levels is a very big achievement; also fortunately mortality is very low: Dr V K Paul, NITIAayog
– COVID-19 recovery rate has now improved to 49.21%: Lav Agrawal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry
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– To keep the pandemic at these levels is a very big achievement; also fortunately mortality is very low, said Dr V K Paul
– One very positive piece of news is that the number of recovered patients now exceeds no. of patients under active medical supervision
– Data shows large sections of the population still vulnerable so we need to protect high-risk groups, maintain social distancing hand hygiene etc. States cannot lower guard need to maintain surveillance and containment: Professor Bhargava, DG, ICMR.