India still in local transmission stage of COVID19: Health Ministry

India is in "local transmission stage" of coronavirus and the total number of confirmed cases at 1071, Health Ministry said on Monday.

New Delhi [India], Mar 30 : India is in "local transmission stage" of coronavirus and the total number of confirmed cases at 1071, Health Ministry said on Monday.

"The country is still in the local transmission stage and if it reaches the community transmission stage, the Health Ministry will admit it," , said Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary in Health Ministry.

He also said automobile manufacturers like Maruti, Tata, Mahindra and Mahindra were being involved in production of ventilators. "They are in talks with the Health Ministry and have held meetings over the same," he said.

He said total number of confirmed coronavrius cases in the country has reached 1071 and the number of deaths have gone up to 29 in the country.

R Gangakhedkar of Indian Council of Medical Research said that 38,442 tests have been conducted till now, of which 3,501 were done yesterday.

"It means we are still at less than 30 per cent of our testing capacity," he said,, adding that 1,334 tests have been done in private labs in the last three days.

PS Srivastava, an official from Home Ministry, said that Home Secretary had on Sunday given directions for ensuring food and shelter to the stranded workers and full wages by employers. She said officials have also been asked to ensure that landlords don't ask for rent from labourers

( With inputs from ANI )