The spike in the number of coronavirus cases in India has resulted in the community transmission of the infection, according to the Indian Medical Association (IMA). More than 1.1 million people have so far been infected with COVID-19 in the country now.
The government, however, continues to insist that the disease has still not reached a stage where community transmission starts to happen. There are 4 stages of infection or its spread of any unknown viral disease. There are also 4 stages in the case of SARS-CoV-2:
First Stage:
In the first stage of a pandemic, the disease doesn’t spread locally – cases reported are usually people who have had travel history to an already affected country. The source of the virus can be traced easily.
Second Stage:
This is the stage of local transmission, when people who have brought the virus into the country transmit it to people they come in contact with. At this stage, it is easy to trace spread and quarantine people.
Third Stage:
Community transmission begins in the third stage, when infections happen in public and a source for the virus cannot be traced. At this stage, large geographical lockdowns become important as random members of the community start developing the disease.
Fourth Stage:
In this stage, the disease becomes an epidemic in a country, such as it was in China, with large numbers of infections and a growing number of deaths with no end in sight. It is then considered to be endemic or now prevalent in the region.
IMA on Community Transmission:
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has urged the government to acknowledge community transmission of COVID-19 in India, with the district as a unit.
IMA Hospital Board of India Chairman Dr VK Monga believes that India has now reached the third stage of the disease. “The coronavirus is now growing at a dangerous pace. The number of cases every day is approaching almost over 30,000. It’s really a bad situation for the country”, Monga said.
The IMA also expressed concern over the spread of coronavirus in rural areas. Dr VK Monga said that there are a lot of factors involved with it but overall it is now spreading in rural areas. This is a bad sign. This shows that the community spread of the infection has started in the country.
In the meantime, on Friday, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said community transmission has occurred in two coastal hamlets of Poonthura and Pulluvila in Thiruvananthapuram. He said this as the state on Friday recorded 791 cases, taking the count to 11,066.
Earlier, the Assam government had said that the state capital Guwahati is in the community transmission phase. “The community transmission of coronavirus in Guwahati city, with over 8,000 positive cases so far, was likely to return to a normal level by the end of August,” Assam Health and Family Welfare Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Thursday.
India recorded 40,425 new coronavirus cases and 681 deaths in the last 24 hours, in the biggest single-day jump, government data this morning showed. The fresh cases put the total tally in India, the nation with the third-highest number of COVID019 cases, at 11,18,043. The latest deaths bring the total fatalities to 27,497. Maharashtra continues to report the highest number of cases, followed by Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Karnataka, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.
India has become the third worst-hit coronavirus country after the US and Brazil.
