Centre should now accept community spread: Jain

New Delhi: State health minister Satyendar Jain on Monday said the central government should clearly accept community spread of Covid-19 on a large scale. Delhi govt has been saying for the past few months that Covid-19 has entered the phase of community transmission in Delhi, but it is only up to the central government to accept it, he added.

Union health minister Harsh Vardhan had on Sunday stated that certain districts in some states were witnessing community transmission but made it clear that it was not happening across the country. The central government has so far maintained that there is only localised community transmission limited to some areas that are reporting clusters of cases.

Asked about the union minister’s remarks, Jain stated that the Delhi government has been saying so for a few months and added that the Centre should clearly accept it. The number of cases was in lakhs (in the country) and even then if it was not accepted as community transmission, when it would be accepted, Jain wondered. He also said that serological survey had suggested more than 25% seroprevalence and the Centre should have no problem in accepting the community spread.

Two Covid-19 waves have hit the city so far. In the first wave, the highest number of single day cases was on June 23 when the city reported close to 4,000 cases and the second wave was on September 16 when the city reported close to 4,500 cases in a day.

Delhi government got the hint of community transmission in early June when the district authorities started finding it difficult to trace the source of infection in more than 50% cases. The health minister later remarked that community transmission had started happening in the city, but it was only up to the experts or the central government to give any authoritative remark on this.

About the rush in markets due to festivals, the health minister said the government has released all the protocols for social distancing and other preventive behaviours. He appealed to people to wear mask and follow social distancing.