NEW DELHI: In a relief to authorities monitoring Covid-19, all the 820 randomly collected samples of persons suffering from severely acute respiratory infection have tested negative, providing scientific evidence that community transmission of the disease is yet to manifest itself.The process of collecting samples from persons who are not in the “zone of risk” of those who have travelled abroad or have been in touch with such individuals will continue. The possibility of a community spread — when the virus is detected in a patient who has neither been abroad nor has been in contact with such a person — remains, leaving no room for complacency.“All the 820 randomly collected samples have tested negative and do not indicate any community transmission. However, we will ramp up our sample numbers and continue to do surveillance to check if there is any further spread,” a senior official and scientist at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) told TOI.The results are crucial because they are part of a scientific assessment to evaluate whether the virus has spread through community transmission. “We are not exactly ruling out community transmission but the fact that these samples have tested negative is reassuring that at the moment there is no evidence to indicate community outbreak,” the official added.The government has decided to allow select private labs to test even as officials said WHO’s call for more testing was not country-specific and pointed out a close watch was being maintained on any spike in Covid-19 cases (within current testing criteria) and in general admissions of patients with serious respiratory illnesses, signs that might indicate a wider spread.While the random tests are being evaluated, health minister Harsh Vardhan held a review on Wednesday on containment and management of the novel coronavirus , directing teams be deputed to regularly inspect and monitor quarantine facilities for ensuring necessary amenities are being provided. The move came after reports of Indian nationals returning home complaining about the poor state of facilities.ICMR had earlier said that around 1,040 samples through its 52 labs (each collecting 20 random samples) of patients admitted in ICUs at various hospitals, including private, due to influenza-like illness have been collected between March 1 and 15 to assess if the virus infected those without a history of travelling abroad or having come in contact with persons who have.“Some of our labs informed us that referrals were not enough to do all the samples. Hence, some of them collected less than 20 samples. So, we could test only 820 in this batch,” the official said.As part of continued surveillance, ICMR will collect random samples of people with SARI but without any travel history on a weekly basis. A total of 121 labs will be functional soon for the purpose. Each lab, in medical colleges across the country, has a capacity to test 90 samples per day.The ICMR’s random testing to check community transmission is running parallel to the testing and tracing of symptomatic travellers and their contacts. At present, the total capacity for over 70 functioning labs along with National Institute of Virology , Pune, is 8,000 samples per day. However, these labs are doing around 500 samples every day.Health ministry officials maintained India is still in stage II with limited localised transmission and there is no need for community testing. “Unnecessary testing will create unnecessary panic. Besides, the government is taking a graded approach to optimally utilise our resources,” an official said.According to current testing protocols, only those with any symptoms (cough, fever or difficulty in breathing) and having travel history to any of Covid-19-affected countries or those who have come in contact of a confirmed positive case, qualify for testing.The government, however, has already started ramping up its preparations for the risk of community transmission and the community testing that it might require by ordering one million additional testing kits, besides extending the network of testing laboratories.There are four stages in a disease outbreak: Stage I is usually when cases are imported and not of local origin. Stage II is when there is local transmission of cases reported, which means a section of people that is testing positive is due to having come in contact with a laboratory positive person who had a travel history. There can be a single case or local clusters of positive cases in stage II.Stage III is community transmission, wherein the scientists working to contain the outbreak are not able to pinpoint the source of infection. A person tests positive without any travel history or any contact history with a laboratory positive case.The last stage-IV is when the outbreak is declared an epidemic, where it has spread to the entire country and cases return positive one after another in large numbers without any information on source of infection. India currently is at Stage II of the outbreak, which experts say can be contained locally.