Explained: Why community transmission no longer matters at this stage

News: The Government of India insists that COVID-19 has still not reached a stage of community transmission in spite of more than 1.1 million people having been infected with the novel coronavirus in India.

Facts:

Stages of Transmission:

• Stage 1- Imported Transmission: It is when cases are imported from affected countries without any local origin and only those who have travelled abroad test positive for respiratory illness.The disease does not spread locally at this stage.
• Stage 2- Local Transmission: It is the stage when local transmission happens and its source is known and can be located.At this stage, people testing positive have come in contact with a patient who has travelled outside the country.
• Stage 3- Community Transmission: It is the stage where infection has become so widespread in a community that it gets difficult to determine who is passing on the infection to whom.
• Stage 4- Epidemic: It is the stage where there is a widespread outbreak of the infection leading it to become an epidemic within the population and difficult to contain.