Many Covid cases without travel or contact history, shows ICMR study

NEW DELHI: An ICMR study of patients admitted with Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) showed that 93% of those who tested positive for Covid-19 and for whom data on exposure was known had neither travelled abroad nor had any contact with a person known to be infected.

According to the study, of 102 SARI patients who tested positive for Covid-19, no data was available for 59 (58%) cases regarding any contact they might have had with a Covid-19 positive person or of international travel. Of the remaining 43, about whom such details of exposure and history were known, 40 (93%) had no history of international travel or contact.

Some public health experts see it as an indication of community spread. Dr T Sundararaman, a public health expert who has worked with the Indian government, said, “This is the definition of community spread even by the WHO – cases without any history of contact with infected persons or of internati