The Union Health Ministry on Sunday said there were 110 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country. However, reports from States put the figure of persons testing positive at 114. Of the new cases two were from Maharashtra, two from Kerala and one each from Rajasthan, Karnataka, Telangana and Uttarakhand. Ten persons have so far been discharged after treatment.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan reviewed action taken by States and Union Territories and preparedness regarding prevention, containment and management along with senior officials.
COVID-19 | Interactive map of confirmed coronavirus cases in India
The government has maintained that no cases of community transmission — that is sick people testing positive for the virus who have no traceable link to travellers who’ve come into India from abroad — have been detected. However, a senior researcher at an institution affiliated to the Union Science Ministry, who did not wish to be identified, said “it is likely” that community transmission is ongoing in India but has not been recorded in official counts due to inadequate testing.
A 45-year-old woman in Kalaburagi, who was in contact with the 76-year-old man who died of COVID-19 in the district last week, tested positive on Sunday. The toll of infected persons in Karnataka has now risen to seven, including the victim.
A third case of COVID-19 was also confirmed in Telangana, with a 48-year-old man who returned from the Netherlands and was admitted to the Gandhi Hospital on March 11 testing positive.
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Two people, including a U.K. national, tested positive in Kerala, taking the total number of affected in the State to 21, as the government launched a “break the chain” initiative to prevent the spread of the virus.
Earlier in the morning, an Air India flight from Milan in Italy arrived in Delhi with 218 evacuees . They have been quarantined at the Indo-Tibetan Border Police camp at Chhawla.
The 236 persons evacuated from Iran have been quarantined at the Army facility in Jaisalmer. They had been tested prior to their departure and were reported to be asymptomatic. So far, 265 persons returning from COVID-19 affected countries have been quarantined at Thiruvananthapuram, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, the Union Health Ministry said in a statement.
Ms. Preeti Sudan, Secretary (HFW), Dr. Balram Bhargava, DG (ICMR), Shri Arun Singhal, Spl. Secretary (H), Shri Sanjeeva Kumar, Spl. Secretary (H), DGHS; Shri G V V Sarma, Member Secretary (NDMA); Dr Randeep Guleria, Director, AIIMS; Dr Minakshi Bhardwaj, MS of Dr RML Hospital; Dr. Sujeet Singh, Director NCDC; Dr Raman Gangakhedkar, Scientist, ICMR; and officials of the Ministry were present during the meeting.
He reviewed the steps taken by various States for social distancing and measures taken for avoiding non-essential travel and mass gatherings was also reviewed by Dr. Harsh Vardhan.
A Group of Ministers (GOM) on COVID-19 is expected to convene on Monday.
On Friday, Dr. Bhargava said that strong systems and processes were in place to deal with COVID-19. “We have to be prepared for community transmission stage but we would like to highlight the fact that if we all work together and follow the guidelines we can improve the outcome.”
The first coronavirus case was confirmed in India on January 30. According to ICMR, 6,500 samples of 5,900 individuals have been tested in the country.
