WHO backtracks, says it’s cluster spread in India
A massive controversy has erupted over whether or not India is in the third stage of coronavirus outbreak, ie community transmission.
While a study by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) cited instances where COVID-19 patients had no established contact with someone who picked up the disease from abroad, the Centre denied it was a case of community spread.
Community transmission is stage 3 of an outbreak, considered dangerous as positive cases start rising exponentially making tracing of the contacts nearly impossible.
The World Health Organisation (WHO), which had also first said that India was in the third stage of the disease, on Friday almost retracted its statement and said India was at cluster outbreak stage.
The Centre also differed with Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh who on Friday raised the fear of the possibility of community transmission in his State and announced extension of lockdown.
Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Union Health Ministry, said community transmissions of coronavirus have not begun yet in the country, the rate of the infection is still low and that there was no need to panic. He cited results of all samples tested on Thursday which included 2 per cent positive results for Covid-19 out of 16,002 tests.
Speaking at a Press conference here he said, “At least 16,002 samples were tested on Thursday, of which only 320 tested positive for Covid-19. Only 2 per cent cases tested positive. Based on the samples collected, we can say that the infection rate is not high, although it is dynamic.”
Agarwal also suggested that people need to be alert. “Today, the challenge is not local or community transmission, but whether we are following all the precautionary and containment measures. There is no community transmission in the country yet, but we need to remain aware and alert,” he said.
As per the ICMR study based on random sampling tests conducted on patients with Severe Acute Respiratory Illnesses (SARI), there was a spike in the number of coronavirus positive cases among such patients with no travel history.
As many as 39.2 per cent of SARI patients, who later tested positive for the coronavirus,neither had a history of travel nor had contact with a positive patient, the data compiled by ICMR showed. These patients were reported from 36 districts of 15 States.
“These districts need to be prioritised to target COVID-19 containment activities,” ICMR says in the report.
The report showed the outcome of random coronavirus tests on 5,911 people suffering from SARI in 52 districts in 20 States and Union Territories between February 15 to April 2. Out of the total sample size, 104 people (1.8 per cent) were found to have contracted coronavirus. Of the 104, 40 of them did not have any recent international travel history or contact with any positive case of the infection, the study by the nodal medical research body said.
The ICMR study was conducted to examine whether the coronavirus outbreak in the country had reached the community transmission stage. “In all, 39.2 per cent COVID-19 cases did not report any history of contact with a known case or international travel,” the study said.
Two per cent reported contacts with a confirmed case and one per cent had history of international travel, according to it. The study said males accounted for higher number of COVID-19 cases and also patients aged above 50 years.
The ICMR in its study highlighted that COVID-19 containment activities need to be targeted in districts reporting positive cases among SARI patients. It said intensifying surveillance for COVID-19 among SARI patients may be an efficient tool to effectively use resources towards containment and mitigation efforts.
In India, the initial COVID-19 testing strategy included people who had international travel history with symptoms, symptomatic contacts of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients and symptomatic healthcare workers.
In addition, to track the progression of the epidemic in the early phase, stored samples of SARI patients hospitalised since February 15 were also tested for COVID-19 under the Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratory Network (VRDLN).
A majority of the SARI patients were tested from Gujarat (792), Tamil Nadu (577), Maharashtra (533) and Kerala (503). These are also the States with the highest prevalence overall of COVID cases.
“Tracking the spread of COVID-19 is critical to inform response activities, including testing, containment and mitigation measures. The current SARI testing strategy will complement and strengthen the routine COVID-19 surveillance activities,” the study added.