Tamil Nadu man may become first case of coronavirus community transmission

Chennai : The government is yet to establish the source of virus transmission in a 20-year-old man who has been tested positive to the novel coronavirus or Covid 19. He may become India's first case of community transmission of the deadly contagion.

The man had travelled by train from Delhi to Chennai, while the authorities have said that they have not found any international travel history attached to the man.

"We have come to know he has had no travel history, but contact tracing is not a simple process. It has to be thoroughly investigated," said Dr RR Gangakhedkar, head of epidemiology, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the country’s apex biomedical research body.

The health ministry has maintained that there are no evidence of community transmission in India yet and this particular case is being investigated.

“The initial part of the investigation is to document what the patient tells you and then look for people he may have come into contact with indirectly. Sometimes there is a contact but the person doesn’t realise,” said Gangakhedkar.

“All these things need proper investigation before a conclusion is drawn.”

ICMR is expanding the scope of its sentinel surveillance that is meant to track signs of community transmission.

“From 51 sites currently we have decided to lift samples of severe acute respiratory infections from 100 sites,” he added.