If the coronavirus itself has remained an unending enigma, the associated concept of ‘community transmission’ has emerged as  the most debated topic so far. There were repeated caveats from various public health experts that the most fearsome stage of Covid-19 might have silently started in many pockets of the country. This has been repeatedly countered by the Central Health Ministry with assertions that no such phenomenon is there. The debate, which seemed to have lost momentum, suddenly picked pace on Saturday when an important office bearer of the Indian Medical Association minced no words in opining that the coronavirus situation in India is really bad and the fact that infection is now spreading to rural areas is a pointer to community transmission. Although an official reaction was unavailable till late Sunday evening, it goes without saying that the raging debate will warm up further and it will be rather impossible now to wrap it up under carpet.

The crux of the observation which was made by the IMA Hospital Board of India Chairman is that daily additions of more than 30000 cases (it was nearly 39000 over the last 24 hours as on Sunday) is an ample indication of an exponential growth and that it is visible in various rural pockets is also a clear hint of the silent yet steady penetration of the much-feared factor of community transmission. It is also necessary to recall the Kerala CM’s ‘admission’ which came a day earlier on Friday that community transmission of Covid-19 has occurred in two coastal hamlets of Thiruvananthapuram. Even if it apparently contains a fear-escalating element, the health experts have hailed it as the right decision in making it public since it will help in overhauling the Covid response apparatus to keep in tune with the rising complexity of the situation and more importantly act as an alarm bell for the citizens. Meanwhile, on Sunday the chorus was joined by an expert from Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in the national capital on Sunday, who while fully endorsing the views of the IMA, went on to say that community transmission has been there from quite some time although with pocket-specific manifestations. It is not sure how many more personalities from the country’s health fraternity in near future will come out openly to underline the most dangerous stage of transmission of the pandemic.

To clear the clouds of doubts, the Central Health Ministry and its most active wing, the ICMR must launch an immediate verification exercise. If community transmission is a reality, it’s high time to make it public and earmark the areas which have come under it with formulation of plans accordingly. 

Else, it will remain an everlasting conundrum, thereby diluting the overall fightback efforts.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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