Even as COVID-19 coronavirus cases continue to rise with 169 infections and 3 fatalities reported so far in country, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Thursday said there is no evidence of community transmission of the disease in India.

To rule out concerns over community transmission, which is stage 3 of COVID-19, the top medical body tested 826 samples collected randomly, of which none has returned positive.

Advertisement

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director-General Balram Bhargava also said that random sampling study of community transmission of about 820 samples from 50 sites were conducted, all of which came back negative for Coronavirus.

“We will scale it up. According to this study, community spread has not happened,” Bhargava said.

This came as the Government was faced with questions about low testing amid a spurt in the number of Coronavirus cases over the past few days.

However, the Central government on Wednesday rejected reports that it was suppressing the actual number saying all the protocols were followed and that the data shared was “100 per cent transparent”.

“As far as India is concerned, we are 100% transparent. We are following protocol,” Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary at the Health Ministry, said and added that the Government was moving cautiously so as to not create panic.

“The government doesn’t want to just test people for the sake of testing. We are constantly updating the number of cases within an hour,” he added.

Several experts have raised concerns and questions over the data shared by the Government saying cases were relatively low due to less testing and inadequate facilities.

However, the Health Ministry has stated that under the guidelines of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), laboratory tests should only be taken if prescribed by a qualified physician.

The government’s top medical body has argued against indiscriminate testing, saying that it was not a “practical” given the country’s size and population.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued directives for conducting more and more tests in the wake of asymptomatic patients infecting the healthy population.

However, ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava said the directive was country-specific and that it is not applicable for a nation like India. He said India is not yet in stage 3 of COVID-19, which is community transmission.

Meanwhile, in view of the rise in Coronavirus cases, the ICMR has conceded that private labs could be roped in to help once certain safeguards were in place.

The ICMR has also called for free testing. However, currently, the cost of the first step screening is Rs 1,500 after which a person has to shell out Rs 3000 for an additional confirmatory test.