ICMR reiterates 'no community transmission of COVID-19 in India' as recovered cases rise

Reiterating that India was still not experiencing 'community transmission', ICMR chief Dr. Balram Bhargava, on Thursday, stated that in comparison to the population of India, the effect of the virus was very low, at the Centre's press briefing on Coronavirus (COVID-19) scenario. The last COVID-19 briefing was held on May 26, while the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOFHW) issued press releases on a daily basis. Currently, India has 2,86,579 cases with 8102 dead. 

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ICMR: No community transmission

"There is heightened debate on the term community transmission. India is such a large country and the effect of virus is so low. We are definitely not in community transmission," said Dr. Bhargava.

When asked if efforts were made to ramp up testing, he said, "We had one lab in February and now we have over 850 labs in the country today. A total of 52,13,140 samples have been tested as of date with 1,51,808 samples tested in the past 24 hours. We do have the capacity to test upto 2 lakh cases and will ramp up testing accordingly".

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Health Ministry: Recovery rate at 49.21%

Addressing the press briefing, Union Joint Health Secretary Lav Agrawal said that India's number of recovery rate stands at 49.21%. Moreover, the recovered tally of India exceeds its active cases. When asked about the discrepancy over deaths between Delhi govt and its civic bodies, he said that the changes were generally due to death audits, which will reflect in 2-3 days.

"Recovery rate at 49.21%. The number of patients recovered presently exceeds the number of active patients," he said. On discrepancies in death numbers, he added, " Country-wide death report compiled based on States' data. If states take a day or two more in conducting 'death audit' a change in numbers arises due to it, then, in next 2-3 days numbers are accounted for."

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The Centre announced that the nationwide- Coronavirus lockdown has been extended in containment zones till June 30, 2020. It has also announced that the re-opening of the areas outside containment zones will be done in three phases with the first phase commencing on June 8 - allowing religious places, malls, shops etc to open. The fate of re-opening educational institutions will be decided in the next phase in July, while resuming international air travel, metros, cinema halls, gymnasiums, swimming pools, entertainment parks, theatres, bars, auditoriums, social/political/sports/religious/cultural functions will be decided in the third phase - the date has not been mentioned.

Coronavirus Live Updates: India's recovery rate at 49.21%; active cases at 1,37,448