New Delhi, March 30: The Union Ministry of Family and Health Welfare on Monday issued a new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for transporting likely or confirmed cases of coronavirus. As per the new SOP, various directions have been issued and the release refers to India's current phase of COVID-19 pandemic as 'local transmission and limited community transmission'.

Elaborating about the latest SOP, the Union Health Ministry said, "This SOP is applicable to the current phase of COVID19 pandemic in India - local transmission & limited community transmission." This applies to all the staff -- private or public -- for transporting likely or confirmed cases of coronavirus. India Orders 10 Lakh Personal Protective Equipment Kits From Singapore as Number of Coronavirus Cases Rise, Domestic Firms Asked to Manufacture 40,000 Ventilators.

Here's the tweet:

As per to the Indian Council of Medical research (ICMR), India is facing local transmission. Raman R Gangakhedkar, Head of Epidemiology and Communicable diseases at ICMR, said on Saturday that local transmission has begun in India. However he added, "There was no reason to panic at the moment." Gangakhedkar even said that ICMR has began testing for severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) cases.

Earlier on Monday, one more person has succumbed to the novel Coronavirus in Madhya Pradesh, taking the death toll to four in the state. The total number of COVID-19 cases in MP has risen to 47. Meanwhile, India is under complete lockdown for 21-day to contain COVID-19 virus. Till now, 33 deaths have been reported in the country. There are 939 active cases, while total recovered patients are 99.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 30, 2020 05:03 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).