Minister confirms Covid community transmission

New Oct. 18: Union health minister Harsh Vardhan on Sunday said community transmission of the Coronavirus infection is restricted to certain districts in a limited number of states, clarifying that “this is not happening across the country”.

The minister said this during an interaction with his social media followers on the sixth episode of “Sunday Samvaad”.

He was responding to a question from a participant, who cited West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s remark that there are instances of community transmission in her state and asked the minister which are the states that have witnessed community transmission of the disease.

“In different pockets across various states, including West Bengal, community transmission of Covid-19 is expected to occur, especially in densely-populated areas. However, this is not happening across the country. Community transmission is limited to certain districts, occurring in a limited number of states,” Vardhan said.

He added that as yet, no mutation of the Coronavirus has been detected in India that is either more transmission-efficient or more pathogenic.

The Centre so far has denied community transmission of the Coronavirus infection in

Delhi,

HARSH VARDHAN says community transmission of the Coronavirus infection is restricted to certain districts in a limited number of states and that this is not happening across the country.

the country.

Health ministry officials had said the World Health Organisation (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.

Meanwhile, with Kerala witnessing a spike in Coronavirus infections recently, Harsh 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.