New Delhi: The number of coronavirus cases in India on Wednesday rose to 29, including 16 Italians touring Rajasthan, said the government, adding that all international passengers will now be screened at airports as concerns mount over the spread of the respiratory infection.
As of February 3, six coronavirus cases, including one Italian, was reported in the country.
Giving a break-up of the 28 cases, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said one patient is from Delhi; six more, his relatives, are from Agra; one is from Telangana and there are 16 Italians as well as their Indian driver in Rajasthan. The figure includes the first three cases in the country from Kerala last month who have since recovered.
Later on Wednesday, e-commerce payment system Paytm said an employee in its Gurgaon office has tested positive, bringing the total up to 29. In a statement, the company said the infected person had recently returned from a vacation in Italy, one of the worst-hit countries from coronavirus, and advised its employees to work from home for the next couple of days.
With the number of cases rising, the Union Health Ministry issued an advisory to all schools asking them to avoid any large gathering of students in premises. It said that any student or staff with travel history to any COVID-19 affected country or in contact with such persons in the last 28 days should be monitored and quarantined at home for 14 days.
Class teachers have been asked to remain alert of any possible signs and symptoms among students like coughing, fever or difficulty in breathing and immediately inform the parents to get them tested.
"Ask parents not to send child back to school till advised so by the treating doctor," the advisory said, asking schools to place alcohol-based hand sanitiser at various spots and advised monitoring students staying in hostels. The ministry also asked them to ensure availability of soap and water in restrooms at all times.
At his press conference, Vardhan said all international passengers will now be screened at airports. Earlier, travellers from only 12 countries were screened for the contagious disease that has claimed over 3,000 lives and infected more than 90,000 worldwide.
Seventeen Indians abroad have been infected -- 16 from a cruise ship in Japan “being treated at onshore medical facilities” and one from the United Arab Emirates – said the Ministry of External Affairs.
PM, ministers to skip Holi gatherings
With Holi less than a week away, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president JP Nadda and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said they would not celebrate the festival of colours or hold Holi Milan gatherings. President Ram Nath Kovind’s office also said that the Rashtrapati Bhavan will not hold any celebrations on the occasion.
Vardhan said the government has adopted a cluster approach as part of which health authorities will check and sensitise every household within a three-kilometre radius of the house of the infected person. The government also intends to set up a laboratory in Iran to facilitate testing of Indians there before they are brought back. An estimated 1,200 Indians, mostly students and pilgrims, are in Iran.
An inter-ministerial meeting chaired by PM’s Principal Secretary PK Mishra decided that all government departments will consult the Health Ministry before organising conferences and international meets in the country in the coming days.
At a meeting of the Union Cabinet, minister Prakash Javadekar said more than six lakh people had been screened for coronavirus symptoms at 21 airports. He said that more than 10 lakh people, who have entered the country via open borders with Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar, have also been screened.
While only the Pune-based National Virology Institute (NVI) is fit for conducting coronavirus tests, the government has now set up 15 more labs and is in the process of establishing 19 additional centres, said Javadekar.
“The government is proactively engaged in dealing with coronavirus. The prime minister is monitoring the situation daily,” he added.
States up surveillance
Several state governments, including Rajasthan and Delhi, screened visitors and others for the disease in hotels and guesthouses.
With 16 Italian tourists, who came to Rajasthan by road from Delhi, testing positive, the desert state swung into action to contain the infection. State Health Minister Raghu Sharma said in Assembly that at least 215 people had come into contact with the group. These included 53 people in Jhunjhunu, 14 each in Jodhpur and Jaisalmer, 44 in Bikaner, six in Udaipur, and 76 people in Jaipur.
Swab samples of 93 people were taken with 51 suspected patients tested negative whereas reports of 41 others are still pending, he said, adding that Italy has the third largest number of coronavirus cases in the world and the tourists should have been screened earlier.
A 69-year-old man was the first one in the group to test positive for the disease. His wife then also tested positive at Jaipur’s Sawai Man Singh Hospital where the couple is now admitted. The other 14 members of the group and their Indian driver have been quarantined at the ITBP camp in Chhawla.
In Delhi, Kejriwal said efforts are on to check and screen 88 people who came in contact with the Delhi man who tested positive for coronavirus.
(With inputs from PTI)
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