Random tests negative, no community transmission of Covid 19 in India: ICMR

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Random tests negative, no community transmission of Covid 19 in India: ICMR
Random tests negative, no community transmission of Covid 19 in India: ICMR

New Delhi : The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Thursday said that there are no evidences of community transmission of Covid 19 in India as all random samples collected randomly to check the spread of the Covid-19 disease have tested negative.

“All random samples that we tested for severe acute respiratory infections are negative for Covid-19. This suggests there is no community transmission in India yet,” Balram Bhargava said.

So far 166 positive cases of coronavirus have been registered in India.

Community transmission is the situation when a person is diagnosed with the virus who does not have a travel history to the affected country. It indicates undiagnosed and often asymptomatic people are unknowingly causing infection, which makes it difficult to break the chain of transmission.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), India must re-evaluate its strategy and test more people. So far, 151 confirmed cases have been registered with three deaths.

ICMR has been conducting community surveillance by lifting random samples from intensive care unit (ICU) patients suffering from severe acute respiratory infections (SARI), including severe pneumonia. These samples are taken from people with no travel history or contact with a positive patient.

Since March 15, they have collected around 1000 random samples to test coronavirus.