India is SARS-free: WHO

There is more good news: the affected people are not likely to spread infection if they have passed the 7-12 days of incubation period.

Swaraj declared, ‘‘ As on date, India can be called a SARS-free country.’’ The WHO officials said they had doubted the SARS declarations from the very beginning.‘‘We were waiting for the epidemiological results,’’ said Dr N. Kumara Rai, director, Department of Communicable Diseases, WHO South East Asia Region.

The experts said there is nothing wrong with the laboratories or diagnostic mechanism in India, and say the diagnostic kits are not reliable enough. ‘‘The disease is new so the diagnostic kits are not very reliable. We have asked all the member countries to adhere to the clinical definition and travel history rather than the PCR positive test,’’ he added.

According to him, a patient whose samples test positive would not necessarily mean he is affected with SARS and a negative test has to be dealt with caution and care if the symptoms are present and in case the travel history shows a recent visit to a SARS-affected country. He also gave what he called a hypothetical explaination of the whole scenario.

‘‘Hypothesis is that maybe Indians have become immune to the new corona virus because of the already existing virus overload in the country,’’ he said. The government, however, was not concerned about their hasty declarations and claimed it never failed to understand the WHO definition in the first place.

‘‘We made it clear in all our briefings that the patients have been laboratory positive, that means they have the virus in their body but it is not manifesting into any symptoms,’’ said the minister.

Transparency was the main priority of the government, the minister said. ‘‘We were very cautious. Rather over-cautious. We wanted to be very transparent and didn’t want media to get reports from other sources creating more confusion.’’

The confusion, however, still prevails, leaving no room for complacency. The virus is present in the country and it still can infect people coming in contact with the patient, she said. The tests will still be positive, quarantine would be advised but the fact is having the virus in your body would not mean SARS, the minister added. According to the minister, the 19 cases who have tested positive for the new corona virus (which on April 16, was declared as the only virus known to cause SARS) have presented no symptoms of the disease.