By Priyanka Sharma
New Delhi [India], Mar 21 : Limited local transmission of Covid-19 has been seen in some pockets of Nagpur, sources told on Saturday. Testing strategies are being strengthened now, they added.
The top government source who did not wish to reveal identity while speaking to is a part of the team leading the testing strategies for Covid-19 infections in India.
"At this point, we have (been) seeing local limited transmission of COVID-19 in clusters or smaller areas crowded places. When we say community transmission, it is a bigger area," the source added.
So far, the spread of coronavirus was seen amongst people with travel history to the affected countries. With the latest development, the communicable infection seems to be spreading out to others as well.
"What we have found that about 10 of the 1,300 samples from Nagpur tested positive which indicates limited local transmission of COVID-19 has begun. We have seen this Maharashtra, for example in the pockets of Nagpur. We have strengthened our testing strategies," sources added.
Local limited transmission could be in metro and buses among others, they said.
"For instance, these small crowded areas could be hospital OPD, metro, buses, any particular cluster of any particular area. That is why the government is appealing to people to maintain social distancing of one meter from each other," sources said.
Several steps are being taken across the country to scale down the spread of coronavirus.
Cautioning people against any complacency in dealing with COVID-19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Thursday laid emphasis on individual "determination" and "restraint through social distancing" in fighting the global pandemic and called for "Janta curfew" on Sunday to prepare for challenges of the future.
"To combat the spread of the virus, we need proper planning intervention. We are conducting solid fieldwork for the containment of the affected area and have testing strategies," sources added.
As per the latest figures by the Union health ministry, there has been a spike of 35 fresh cases of COVID-19 since last night. As of now, there are 258 COVID-19 cases detected in India. However, ICMR noted 271 cases across India.
( With inputs from ANI )