Centre admits to sporadic COVID-19 cases with no travel history

The government on Saturday admitted to “sporadic instances” of COVID-19 among patients with severe acute respiratory infections with no travel or contact history even as the number of confirmed cases rose sharply to 918 on Saturday, an increase of 149 in a single day.

However, top health ministry officials ruled out the existence of any evidence to conclude community transmission of COVID-19, which could lead to an exponential rise in the number of patients.

“There are some sporadic instances where cases have not revealed any history of exposure. But the numbers are not so exponential that we take it to mean that the virus is spreading rapidly,” Raman Gangakhedkar, Head of Epidemiology and Communicable Diseases, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) told reporters here.

Gangakhedkar neither specifies any number to the “sporadic cases” of COVID-19 nor did he say where such instances have been observed.

“Till we see a significant number of cases to indicate community transmission, let us not over-interpret things,” Gangakhedkar added.

At the daily press conference on the COVID-19 situation, Health Ministry officials said that the government was focusing on high disease-burden hotspots and is working in tandem with states to implement rigorous contact-tracing, community surveillance, and containment strategies.

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Over the past few days, places such as Bhilwara in Rajashtan and Sangli in Maharashtra had seen a sudden increase in the COVID-19 cases, mostly on account of lapses by persons who had contracted the disease while travelling abroad.

COVID-19 has claimed 19 lives across the country so far, but on the brighter side, 80 patients have recovered from the infection.

Addressing concerns over inadequate testing capabilities, Gangakhedkar said India has utilised 30% of its testing capability of conducting 12,000 tests per day.

He said India presently had a sufficient number of testing facilities and kits and it was prepared to tackle any dramatic rise in the number of infections.

“The government is working with states on health infrastructure preparedness and the focus is on having dedicated COVID-19 hospitals and blocks in every state,” Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health said.

He said arrangements were also being made to ramp up isolation and ICU beds and other required logistics.

Aggarwal said 17 states have so far started work on dedicated COVID-19 hospitals and doctors are being provided online training by their counterparts at the AIIMS New Delhi on the management of such patients.

“A series of online training for nursing officers will be conducted by AIIMS in the next 5-7 days. This includes training in caring for patients and suspected cases of COVID-19,” he said.