New Delhi: There are 206 COVID-19 cases in India, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said on Friday even as the Union health ministry put the tally to 195 after registering 22 fresh cases of the fast-spreading coronavirus, which has killed nearly 10,000 people globally.
Meanwhile, a 69-year-old Italian tourist who had reportedly recovered from the novel coronavirus died at a private hospital in Jaipur after suffering a massive cardiac arrest late on Thursday night, SMS Medical College principal Sudhir Bhandari said.
According to ICMR data updated on March 20, a total of 206 individuals have been found positive among "suspected cases and contacts of known positive cases". "A total of 14,376 samples from 13,486 individuals have been tested for SARS-CoV2 as on March 20," ICMR added.
The Union health ministry data of 195 included 32 foreign nationals –17 from Italy, three from the Philippines, two from the UK, one each belonging to Canada, Indonesia and Singapore.
The figure also includes four deaths reported from Delhi, Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra so far.
"The total number of active COVID 2019 cases across India stands at 171 so far," the ministry said, adding that 20 others have been cured/discharged/migrated while four have died.
Delhi has, so far, reported 17 positive cases which includes one foreigner, while Uttar Pradesh has recorded 19 cases, including one foreigner.
Maharashtra has 47 cases, including three foreigners, while Kerala has recorded 28 cases which include two foreign nationals.
Karnataka has 15 coronavirus patients. The number of cases in Ladakh rose to 10 and Jammu and Kashmir four. Telangana has reported 16 cases which include nine foreigners.
Rajasthan has also reported seven cases including that of two foreigners. Tamil Nadu has three cases so far while Andhra Pradesh has two.
In Haryana, there are 17 cases, which include 14 foreigners.
Check and prevention mechanism
As coronavirus continued its upward trajectory across the country, the Centre and the state governments faced double-barrel challenge –strengthening its check and prevention mechanism, to contain the spread of the virus and addressing public panic leading to hoarding essential items.
Despite appeals to not hoard items, long lines were seen at grocery stores, pharmacies and other outlets selling other essential stuff, throwing the caution of social distancing' to the wind.
Meanwhile, Traders's body, CAIT said its members across India will keep their establishments shut on Sunday in response to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for a self-imposed 'janata curfew'. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said all the malls in the national capital will be closed in view of COVID-19 threat, except for grocery, pharmacy and vegetable stores in them. The Delhi government also issued an advisory for the private sector to allow their employees to work from home till March, and asked people, particulary senior citizens, pregnant women and those affected with hypertension and diabetes, to remain at home.
With a Punjab woman, who had tested positive for the coronavirus, fleeing from the hospital and subsequently booked for doing so, Union minister G Kishan Reddy urged family members to not resist the government move to test and quarantine people returning from countries battling coronavirus.
Sporting and Bollywood fraternity also tried their bit in creating awareness with India's cricket captain Virat Kohli and his actor wife Anushka Sharma issue a joint appeal for self-isolation to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nation heads for virtual lockdown
As part of its efforts to detect and prevent the spread of coronavirus, the government banned all international commercial passenger aircraft from landing in the country from March 22 to March 29.
Moreover, the Central government has requested states to enforce work for home for private sector employees, except for those working in emergency and essential services.
"State governments shall issue appropriate directions so that all citizens above 65 (other than for medical assistance) except for public representatives or government servants or medical professionals are advised to remain at home," the government statement noted.
"No scheduled international commercial passenger aircraft shall be allowed to land in India from March 22, 2020 for one week," the government statement said.
"Similarly, all children below 10 should be advised to stay at home and not to venture out," it added.
"States are being requested to enforce work for home for private sector employees except those working in emergency/essential services," the statement added.
While the Indian Railways decided to suspend all concessional tickets except for patients, students and those in the Divyangjan category from the midnight of March 20 till further notice to discourage unnecessary travel, IndiGo announced pay cuts for senior employees, including of its CEO who would take the highest cut of 25 per cent amid the novel coronavirus pandemic that has hit the aviation industry hard.
In a last minute-decision, the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) postponed class 10 and 12 examinations, which were to start from Thursday.
With the class 12 sociology exam scheduled to be held at 2 pm, the announcement was made at 10 am.
The HRD Ministry had on Wednesday ordered the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), University Grants Commission (UGC) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to postpone their exams till March 31, saying the safety of students and staff were as important as following the exam calendar.
COVID-19, which stands for Coronavirus Disease 2019, is the name of the disease caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2. SARS-CoV-2 belongs to the Coronavirus family with crown-shaped spikes on its surfaces. The name of the disease was given by the World Health Organisation.
(With PTI inputs)
