Earlier, Mamata, Vijayan had claimed community transmission in their States
For the first time, the Centre on Sunday admitted the prevalence of community transmission of Covid-19 virus in India, but said it is “limited to certain districts in limited States”.
The admission, after months of denial, came in the backdrop of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s remarks that the community transmission of Covid-19 has started in the State.
Earlier, Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief Minister of Kerala, which too is witnessing a major surge, had also talked about community transmission but was denied by the Centre.
While responding to a query in his “Sunday Samvad” programme, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said, “In different pockets across various States, including West Bengal, community transmission is expected to occur, especially in dense areas. However, this is not happening across the country. It is limited to certain districts in limited States.”
The Minister interacted with his social media audience through the Samvad.
The Health Minister’s response was to the query, “Mamata has said there are instances of community transmission in the State. Are there other States with community transmission as well?”
Earlier this week, Mamata had urged the people of West Bengal to maintain caution ahead of the upcoming Durga Puja season.
“I ask everybody to follow the Covid-19 safety protocols during the festive season. There are instances of community transmission of Covid-19 and also the contagion becoming airborne,” Mamata said.
Vardhan asserted that so far, no mutation of the coronavirus has been detected in India that is either more transmission-efficient or more pathogenic.
Health Ministry officials have said the World Health Organization (WHO) has not given any standard definition of community transmission.
It permits its member nations to assess the spread of the disease, based on their own analysis of the situation, and do their reporting, which the global body shows on its website. Broadly, if it is not possible to trace the transmission chain, it means there is community transmission, officials said.
The Centre has maintained that there are clusters of cases and there are pockets of localised transmission.
Earlier, in mid-July, Vijayan had said community transmission of the coronavirus has begun in Kerala and its capital Thiruvananthapuram was facing a “grave” situation, as the virus was spreading in coastal areas. “Community transmission has been confirmed in the Poonthura and Pulluvila areas (of Thiruvananthapuram district),” Vijayan had said.
While the Centre had ruled it out, however, in a guidance document released in the same month the Health Ministry had inadvertently revealed that community transmission happened in India as early as in April. The document was later withdrawn from the website of the Ministry.
On a query why Kerala was witnessing a spike in coronavirus infections recently, Vardhan said the State was paying the “price for gross negligence” during Onam festivities when unlocking of services along with an increase in travel for trade and tourism led to the spread of Covid-19.
The Minister said this ought to serve as a good lesson for all the State Governments that were being negligent in planning for the festival season.
“This festive season, charity must take precedence over celebrations. My own celebrations too shall remain subdued due to the heart-rending impact of Covid-19 on lakhs of corona warriors across the world battling for us,” the Minister stated.
He also assured that there is no shortage of medical oxygen in the country and that the Government is ready to scale up the production capacity to meet any further increase in demand arising due to the pandemic.