Dr. Guleria said that a couple of hotspots in the country have seen local spread at the community level, but stressed that there’s nothing to worry about if this spread is stopped at the initial stage.
New Delhi| The novel coronavirus has reached stage 3 of it’s spread or widely referred as community transmission, in some areas of the country, said Dr. Randeep Guleria, director of AIIMS, New Delhi.
Speaking to news channel Aaj Tak, Dr. Guleria said that though the community transmission has been observed in some pockets in India, the country as a whole is still between stage 2 (local transmission) and stage 3.
Expressing his worries over the arising situation around coronavirus, Dr. Gulerian told Aaj Tak, “Cases have sharply increased at some places and localized community spread has also been noticed in some areas, such as Mumbai. We are in between Stage 2 and 3.”
However, he also clarified that most of India is currently at stage 2 of the coronavirus pandemic.
Dr. Guleria said that a couple of hotspots in the country have seen local spread at community level, but stressed that there’s nothing to worry about if this spread is stopped at the initial stage. “Localised community spread has started in a few pockets, and so it is necessary for us to be more vigilant,” Dr. Guleria added.
He said that the spike in cases of coronavirus could be attributed to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation held in Delhi. He stressed on the importance of tracking every person who attended the event or came in contact with someone who attended the event.
He also appealed people to support doctors as they too are living in fear, owing to the higher risk of getting infected.
On the question of whether the lockdown will be lifted on 15 April, Dr. Guleria said that situation will become clear post 10 April as they will have crucial data available to them.
“We expect more to be available after April 10. Only then we will be able to say whether the lockdown should be extended or not. It will take some time for the situation to normalize,” the AIIMS boss said.
The total cases in India have crossed 4000 on Monday whereas over 100 deaths have been reported so far due to the COVID-19.
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