Amid a massive spurt in coronavirus cases in India, experts on Saturday came down hard on the ICMR for its sero-survey findings to assert that there was no community transmission of Covid-19, saying it was not reflective of the current situation and the government was showing “obstinacy” in accepting the truth.
Emphasising that community transmission was on in many parts of the country, the experts asked the government to admit it so that people don’t get complacent.
The assertion by experts from the field of virology, public health and medicine came after Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director General Balram Bhargava at a media briefing on Thursday said that India is definitely not in the community transmission stage of Covid-19 spread while releasing the findings of the survey.
India’s first sero-survey to monitor the trend of coronavirus infection transmission found that 0.73 per cent of the 26,400 people surveyed from about 65 districts were exposed to coronavirus.
AIIMS former director Dr M C Mishra said there is no doubt that there has been community transmission in several parts of the country.
“With the mass exodus and the country unlocking, it has become more rapid and the disease has reached areas where there were no cases. It is high time the government comes to fore and acknowledges it so that people become more alert and do not become complacent,” Mishra told PTI.
Talking about the ICMR sero-survey, he said the sample size of around 26,400 people is quite inadequate to capture the scale of the spread of the infection, especially keeping in mind the large population and the diversity of the country.
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