The Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Monday has rejected the reports on community transmission of COVID19.
Earlier, media reports cited Dr. VK Monga, the chairman of IMA Hospital Board of India as saying that “the community spread of COVID19 virus” has started in the country.
Media reports recently quoted Dr. Monga as saying: “This is now an exponential growth. Every day the number of cases is increasing by more than around 30,000.”
The report cited Dr Monga as saying: “This is really a bad situation for the country. There are so many factors connected with it but overall this is now spreading to rural areas. This is a bad sign. It now shows a community spread.”
Dismissing the report, the IMA (HQs) in a statement, jointly issued by Dr Rajan Sharma, national president and Dr R. V. Asokan, honorary secretary general of IMA, said: “The purported statement is not from IMA HQs.”
Rejecting Dr Monga’s claim, the IMA (HQs statement said: “It is for the official agencies to ascertain this stage in the natural history of the epidemic. Crowd sourcing data cannot replace authentic data.”
All presumptions in this regard should be considered a matter of personal opinion, Dr Sharma and Dr Asokan said.
IMA is confident that the public health authorities and the medical fraternity are fully engaged and prepared in containing the fallout, they said.
“Data shows that the clusters are in urban metros and not in the countryside where open spaces are the rule,” the IMA (HQs) statement added.