New Delhi, March 30: Even though the number of coronavirus cases and deaths in India continue to surge with each passing day, the Health Ministry on Monday said that India is still in the local transmission stage. According to a tweet by ANI, the Health Ministry clarified that the country is still in local transmission stage and has not entered the community transmission yet. The Ministry asserted that if India reaches the community transmission stage, it will admit it. Local transmission happens in clusters or smaller areas crowded places. When there is community transmission, it is a bigger area, covering a large number of people. India Orders 10 Lakh Personal Protective Equipment Kits From Singapore as Number of Coronavirus Cases Rise.

Several steps are being taken across the country to scale down the spread of coronavirus. Meanwhile, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has so far maintained that India is currently under the local transmission phase. "Nowhere are we calling it community transmission. We are still in the local transmission stage. If we use the word 'community' then there is speculation," said Luv Agarwal,  Joint Secreatry of Health Ministry. On Monday, the Ministry also issued a new Standard Operating Procedure for transporting a COVID-19 case on Sunday refers to India’s current phase of the pandemic.

Here's the tweet:

In India, the total number of coronavirus cases stood at 1071 on Monday. The country has so far witnessed 33 deaths due to COVID-19 so far. In a bid to tackle the COVID-19 outbreak in India, the government said as of now, 3.34 lakh Personal protective equipment (PPE)s available in various hospitals across the country. It added saying that about 60,000 PPE kits have been already procured and supplied. The Indian Red Cross Society has arranged 10,000 PPEs from China which have also been received and are being distributed.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 30, 2020 05:13 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).