No Case Of Community Transmission In India So Far: Health Ministry On Coronavirus Pandemic

Union Ministry of Health on Coronavirus in India: Few cases have come from outside and they have primarily affected their close family members. Mask is not always necessary, if a person maintains effective social distance, the mask is not needed. There is no need to panic

Photo: ANI

Speaking on the current situation due to COVID-19 in India, Union Ministry of Health on Thursday said that right now for the country there's no community transmission, there are only a few cases that have come from outside and they have primarily affected their close family members.  Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Union Health Ministry said: "Right now, luckily for India, we do not have any community transmission. We have only a few cases that have come from outside and they have primarily affected their close family members." Aggarwal added that Visa-free travel facility granted to Overseas Citizen Of India (OCI) cardholders are kept in abeyance till April 15, 2020. "Say No to Panic, Say Yes to Precautions. No Minister of Central Government will travel abroad in the upcoming days. I urge our countrymen to also avoid non-essential travel. We can break the chain of spread and ensure safety of all by avoiding large gatherings," PM Narendra Modi tweeted.

Say No to Panic, Say Yes to Precautions. No Minister of the Central Government will travel abroad in the upcoming days. I urge our countrymen to also avoid non-essential travel. We can break the chain of spread and ensure safety of all by avoiding large gatherings.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 12, 2020

"So far, the Government of India has evacuated 900 Indian citizens along with 48 belonging to other nations like Maldives, Myanmar, Bangladesh, China, US, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Nepal, South Africa, and Peru," said Aggarwal. "52 testing facilities are located across the country. There are a total of 56 sample collection centres. We already have around 1 lakh testings available, additional testings have already been ordered and they are also in procurement," he added. The Joint Secretary added that the mask is not always necessary, if a person maintains effective social distance, the mask is not needed. There is no need to panic. With fresh cases reported from Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Ladakh, the number of people who are COVID-19 positive has gone up to 73, the Union health ministry said on Thursday. A total of 10,57,506 passengers have been screened at airports, the ministry said.