Coronavirus Update: India is taking enough measures to curb the impact of the novel Coronavirus. The second batch of random testing samples to check for community spread have also come out negative, as per ICMR. Out of 1000 collected samples, 826 samples have come out to be negative, DD News tweeted quoting the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR). This implies that there are no signs of community transmission and the possibility has been ruled out by ICMR. ‘Further scale up is in progress’, DD News further quoted DG ICMR on its Twitter handle. As of March 17, 500 cases came out to be negative. Moreover, India currently possesses 1.5 lakh test kits and another 1 million test kits have been ordered for testing on the back of an increase in the number of COVID-19 suspected cases.
There is no evidence of community transmission of #COVID19 as testing of 826 random samples turned out -ve. A total of 1000 samples were collected. There is no evidence of community transmission as per these results. Further scale-up is in progress: DG ICMR
— DD News (@DDNewslive) March 19, 2020
It is to note that community transmission in this case is when a person who does not have a travel history to a Coronavirus affected country or came in contact with an infected person, comes out positive for the infection. For testing this, ICMR had collected 1,000 random samples for testing. The tweet also mentioned that cases other than these 826 samples are still under process.
In a report by the IE, a senior ICMR scientist has expressed just in case community transmission progresses, India will have a long battle ahead. But it was assured that the country is ready to fight against the virus. It was also stated in the report that if the number of cases rise on the back of community transmission, ICMR will start door-to-door testing.
Meanwhile, ICMR has been taking sample tests for Coronavirus everyday and is also performing tests on 10 samples of those who have some severe/acute respiratory problem, influenza or pneumonia. In India, the current number of positive cases has reached 169 people. This includes 141 Indians and 25 foreigners. The central government has also announced shutting down of schools and colleges and has urged people to work from home. In order to inform about further measures, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be addressing the country today.
