Has India reached the community transmission stage of the COVID-19 virus? Even though people in various states have speculated about the same, the Central government says no.
On Thursday, the Union Health Ministry -- on two occasions -- said that India had not yet reached that stage. Even as the COVID-19 case tally topped 7.6 lakh, Rajesh Bhushan, Officer on Special Duty in the Union Health ministry said during a briefing that India as a whole "has not reached the stage of community transmission". He said that while there had been "localised outbreaks" in some areas, community transmission had not yet pervaded the country. This comment came even as India registered a record single-day surge of 24,879 COVID-19 cases, taking the caseload to 7,67,296.
"In a country of more than 733 districts, if 49 districts account for 80 per cent cases, then it is not justified to talk about community transmission," he said.
Bhushan was quoting Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan. Earlier in the day the latter had said that there was no such transmission in the country.
"During our discussions today, experts again stated that there is no community transmission in India. There may be some localised pockets where transmission is high but as a country, there's no community transmission," he said.
Needless to say, netizens are not convinced. With cases rising by several thousand daily, many have wondered if the statement was accurate.
Take a look at some of the posts:
(With inputs from agencies)
