Dr Gyani’s Claim on COVID-19 Community Spread: Listen to the Audio

Listen to the audio interview with Dr Girdhar Gyani

Dr Gyani is an engineer who holds a PhD in Quality Management. His NGO –Association of Healthcare Providers – actively advises the government with policy-making around healthcare.

(Image: The Quint)

On 25 March, Dr Girdhar Gyani gave an audio interview to The Quint in which he clearly stated as follows:

“Yes, we are calling it Stage 3. Officially we may not call it – but it is the beginning of Stage 3.”

Unfortunately, a controversy has been created where it is being alleged that The Quint has reported his comments in a misleading manner. Worse, some news websites have gone to the extent of calling our report “fake”. To set the record straight, The Quint is publishing here the exact audio extract:

To further allay any controversy, the full, unedited audio recording is being embedded below:

You can read our original story here.

As of March 28, the Health Ministry maintains there is no community transmission in India. In a joint press conference held on March 28, Raman R Gangakhedkar, Head of Epidemiology and Communicable Diseases at Indian Council of Medical Research had this to say:

“There are a few sporadic cases where people are not giving their travel history. But this is not a significant number. People are hiding that they travelled abroad or tested positive, but we need more data before we over-interpret this.”

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has said that the state is prepared for potential stage 3 transmission.