Stages of a pandemic and community transmission:

Pandemic

A pandemic is defined as an epidemic occurring worldwide, or over a very wide area, crossing international boundaries and usually affecting a large number of people.
COVID-19 is the first pandemic caused by a coronavirus.

Epidemic

An epidemic, as explained by the WHO, is the regional outbreak of an illness that spreads unexpectedly. It refers to an increase, often sudden, in the number of cases of a disease beyond what is normally expected in the population of an area.
Examples of epidemics in India in the past include the outbreaks of zika virus, chikungunya and dengue fever.

Endemic

The term endemic refers to the constant presence and/or usual prevalence of a disease or infectious agent in a population within a geographic area. For example, chickenpox is considered endemic in the UK, but malaria is not.

What are the stages of a pandemic?

First stage- imported cases:

In the first stage of a disease that eventually takes the form of a pandemic sweeping the globe, cases are imported into a country in which the infection did not originate.
The first case of Covid-19 outside China was reported in Thailand.

Second stage- local transmission

The second stage is when the virus starts being transmitted locally.
Local transmission means that the source of the infection is from within a particular area and the trajectory the virus has taken from one person to the next is clearly established.

Third stage- Community transmission

The third stage is that of community transmission where the source of the contagion is not known.

Fourth stage- disease becoming endemic

Fourth stage in every pandemic is when the disease becomes endemic in some countries.
Among diseases that are currently endemic in India,meaning they occur round the year across the country are malaria and dengue.

About community transmission:

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), community transmission “is evidenced by the inability to relate confirmed cases through chains of transmission for a large number of cases, or by increasing positive tests through sentinel samples (routine systematic testing of respiratory samples from established laboratories)”.
In other words, community transmission or spread is said to be taking place when the source of the contagion is not known, i.e. when one is unable to trace an infection back to a carrier who has travelled in an affected area, or through contact with a person who has the disease.

What does it imply?

A state of community spread implies that the virus is now circulating in the community, and can infect people with no history, either of travel to or contact with affected people and areas.
At this stage, it is theoretically possible for everyone to catch the infection.

Why in the news?

The government has so far maintained that there is no community transmission in case of COVID-19 in the country.
Some experts, however, have disagreed with this assertion for months, and said that community transmission of coronavirus is already taking place, and is not getting detected because India is not testing enough people.

News in detail:

A joint statement by Indian Public Health Association, Indian Association of Preventive and Social Medicine and Indian Association of Epidemiologists says that as community transmission is already well-established across large sections or sub-populations in the country, it is unrealistic to expect that COVID-19 pandemic can be eliminated at this stage.

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