India on Sunday reported more than 100 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the overall case load to 979.
“There have been six deaths in the past 24 hours,” said Joint Secretary in the Union Health Ministry Lav Agrawal at a briefing.
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“We have identified certain emerging hotspots and [will] investigate, on a war footing, what action can be taken there,” he added. However, none of the officials at the briefing specified the hotspots or the number of cases at these locations.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said testing for new cases has been stepped up to 30% of the nation’s capacity.
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Director-General of ICMR Balram Bhargava had said earlier this month that the country could theoretically test upto 70,000 samples a week.
Head of Epidemiology and Communicable Diseases at ICMR, Raman Gangakhedkar, said there was no estimate yet of whether the nationwide lockdown — now into its fifth day — had managed to check community transmission. “If we all observe the lockdown strictly then there’s a chance that we will soon reach the peak number of cases,” Dr. Gangakhedkar added. The ICMR continues to maintain that there are no instances of community transmission.