Coronavirus: Number of confirmed cases in India climbs to 43- new cases from UP, Delhi, Jammu, Kerala

New Delhi: The Centre on Monday confirmed that 43 cases of novel coronavirus infection have been reported in India so far. Four new cases of COVID-19 have been reported since Sunday- one each from Kerala, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Jammu. Sanjeeva Kumar, Special Secretary, Union Health Ministry said no deaths have been reported yet.

“The new cases include one from Delhi with travel history to Italy, one from Jammu with travel history in Iran and one from Meerut, Uttar Pradesh who was infected by six persons who were found positive in Agra. The UP patient was found through contact tracing”, Kumar said.

A patient from Jammu tested positive on Monday for coronavirus, making her the first confirmed case in Jammu and Kashmir. She along with another patient are undergoing treatment at the isolation ward of the Government Medical College (GMC) hospital in Jammu.

A 3-year-old boy, who had travelled to Italy with his parents and returned to Kerala , tested positive in Kerala is being monitored and is under treatment at the Ernakulam Medical college. Five cases were reported from Pathanamthitta district in Kerala on Sunday and now the total number of active coronavirus cases in the state has risen to six. Three cases from Kerala reported in January have been discharged.

Delhi Airport statement: The Airport is taking precautions to stay safe and keep #Coronavirus away from our doorstep. Now is the time to prepare for COVID-19. Simple precautions and planning can make a big difference. pic.twitter.com/aAPrZvFZ7g

— ANI (@ANI) March 9, 2020

“Yesterday we reported five cases from Kerala. We are doing contact tracing for Kerala patients,” Kumar said.

The five cases from Kerala reported yesterday are three of a family with travel history to Italy and two of their relatives who came in contact with them. The family is reported to have visited relatives and attended few functions and their contacts are being traced, Kumar said.

One fresh case each from Delhi and Uttar Pradesh have also been reported, the health secretary and the spokesperson for COVID-19 said.

The Health Special Secretary also clarified that the patient from Murshidabad, West Bengal tested negative for COVID-19 and hence, so far no death has been reported due to COVID-19 in the country.

“We are taking immediate steps to contain the spread of the disease,” he added.

According to official estimates, till Monday 43 samples have tested positive out of the 3,003 samples tested for COVID-19 with 2,694 samples having returned negative results.

So far 8,74,708 international passengers from 8,255 flights at different airports have been screened. 177 of them have been hospitalized and 33,599 passengers are under observation. 21,867 passengers have completed their observation period.

As many as 52 laboratories are now operational across the country for testing the COVID-19 virus. An additional 57 laboratories have been provided with Viral Transport Media and swabs for sample collection.

Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Harsh Vardhan is continuously monitoring and reviewing the status, actions taken and future preparedness of states.

Also, Secretary of the HFW ministry is reviewing the situation with States and Union Territories on a regular basis.

In order to spread awareness, a special COVID-19 mobile phone caller tune was launched by all telecom operators with basic infection prevention messages played when a caller dials-out. Over 117.2 crore subscribers of BSNL, MTNL Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vodafone-Idea are being progressively reached out to through SMSs and Call Backs. (ANI)