The Health Ministry has said there is no need to panic as there is no community transmission of COVID-19 in the country yet. The official, however, advised people to follow the rules and prescribed guidelines. 16,002 tests were conducted on Thursday and only 2 percent cases tested positive. 'Need to stand by medical professionals, incidents of misbehaviour towards them will bring their morale down'. Rise of 678 COVID-19 cases, 33 deaths due to it in last 24 hours

New Delhi: The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Friday reiterated that there is no community transmission in the country but advised everyone to remain alert and follow dos and don’ts prescribed by the Central government.

Today, the challenge is not local or community transmission but if we are taking all the precautionary and containment measures, said Lav Agrawal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health.

As of today, 6761 COVID-19 positive cases have been reported with 206 deaths.

In view of the ensuing festivals in the month of April 2020, the MHA has directed all States and UTs to ensure strict compliance of lockdown measures.

On the number of tests conducted in the country, the Joint Secretary said that 16,002 tests took place out of which only 2 per cent cases tested positive.

On the basis of the samples collected, the infection rate is not high and rapid diagnostics kits have also been sanctioned, said Lav Agrawal.

The Indian government has evacuated 20,473 foreign nationals as of yesterday on request of several countries.