NEW DELHI: There may be some community spread of Covid-19 in hotspots and these areas need to be monitored closely to prevent community transmission of the virus, AIIMS director Dr Randeep Guleria said on Monday, even as fresh coronavirus cases in the country registered a slight dip and fell below 500 for the first time in the past five days.
As Dr Guleria’s remarks triggered a fresh debate over the stage of Covid-19 transmission in the country, the health ministry concurred with the doctor’s statement. “What the AIIMS director has said is not in variance with what we have been explaining,” health ministry joint secretary Lav Agarwal said.
Agarwal said the government was following the strategy of cluster containment strategy when a limited number of cases were being reported from a particular area. This action was being intensified when a larger number of cases came to light.
“If we go by the wordings (of AIIMS Director), he said localised community transmission, which implies larger number of cases are being found in a particular area – something we have been stating too,” the official said.
He added that the government’s efforts are aimed to ensure the country does not enter stage 3 of
