Some community spread in hotspots, says AIIMS chief

DurgeshNandan.Jha@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:07.04.2020

There may be some community spread of Covid-19 in hotspots and these areas need to be monitored closely to prevent community transmission of the virus, AIIMS director Dr Randeep Guleria said on Monday, even as fresh coronavirus cases in the country registered a slight dip and fell below 500 for the first time in the past five days.

As Dr Guleria’s remarks triggered a fresh debate over the stage of Covid-19 transmission in the country, the health ministry concurred with the doctor’s statement. “What the AIIMS director has said is not in variance with what we have been explaining,” health ministry joint secretary Lav Agarwal said.

Agarwal added the government was following the strategy of cluster containment strategy when a limited number of cases were being reported from a particular area. This action was being intensified when a larger number of cases came to light.

Maharashtra remains worst-hit state with 868 confirmed cases

“If we go by the wordings (of AIIMS Director), he said localised community transmission, which implies larger number of cases are being found in a particular area – something we have been stating too,” the official said.

He added that the government’s efforts are aimed to ensure the country does not enter stage 3 of transmission, when it becomes difficult to identify the source of infection. As per latest data from the states, the number of coronavirus cases recorded so far was 4,757, with 479 fresh infections on Monday. There were 16 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, with Maharashtra accounting for seven, taking the total death toll from the virus to 132.

The health ministry has confirmed 4,281 cases and 111 deaths. It reported nearly 700 new cases on Monday, a bulk of which have earlier been by TOI through confirmed reports from states. Maharashtra remains the worst-affected state with 868 confirmed cases and 45 deaths, followed by Tamil Nadu (621cases and 6 deaths) and Delhi (525 cases and 7 deaths). Maharashtra also recorded the highest number of 120 fresh coronavirus positive cases, with Mumbai’s tally alone crossing 500 to end the day at 526. Of the seven deaths, four were from Mumbai and one each from Vasai-Virar, Kalyan and Thane. These included the death of a 30-year-old pregnant woman from Nalasopara (East), the first case of a pregnant woman becoming a victim of coronavirus. She was also the youngest in the state to succumb. In Delhi, several hotspots for Covid-19 have sprung up recently. Most prominent of them is the Nizamuddin cluster which accounts for 329 out of 525 Covid-19 cases in the state. East Delhi has at least two other hot spots – Dilshad Garden, where a 38-year-old woman spread Covid-19 to more than a dozen persons and a cancer hospital in the same area where two doctors and 16 nurses have been found positive for the disease.

The health ministry said the in-charge of all districts across states have been explained about Covid-19 focussed crisis management plan. Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said on Monday that the state could see 100-110 more Covid-19 cases in the next few days, even as 30 new positive were reported.