No community transmission across country, only in certain districts: Health minister

NEW DELHI: Health minister Harsh Vardhan on Sunday said certain districts in some states are witnessing community transmission but it is “not happening across the country”.

“In different pockets across various states, including West Bengal, community transmission of Covid-19 is expected to occur, especially in densely populated areas. However, this is not happening across the country. Community transmission is limited to certain districts, occurring in a limited number of states,” Vardhan said responding to a question during his social media interaction 'Sunday Samvaad'.

The response was with reference to West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s remark that there are instances of community transmission in her state. The participant asked the health minister which are the states that have witnessed community transmission of the viral disease.

The Centre has so far maintained that there is only localised community transmission limited to some areas that are reporting clusters of cases as most of the case burden is still limited to certain states and districts. It has said that containment strategies are intended to limit the localised transmission.

Around 79% of 61,871 new cases were detected from 10 states on Saturday. Similarly, while the total active caseload in the country has dropped below 8 lakh, only three states —Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala — have more than 50,000 active cases each.