2 positive cases of coronavirus detected in Delhi and Telangana, says govt
The threat of a pandemic remains high with a worldwide surge in cases with no clear link to China, which has confirmed asymptomatic transmission of the infection that has now been reported in at least 60 countries.
Two people have tested positive for coronavirus, the government said on Monday, making them the fifth in India to have contracted the virus as it spreads across the world.
“One positive case of COVID-19 has been detected in New Delhi, and one has been detected in Telangana,” the union health ministry said in a release.
“The person from Delhi has a travel history from Italy, while the one from Telangana has a travel history from Dubai. Further details of his travels are being ascertained,” it said.
The ministry added that both the patients are stable and being closely monitored.
Also Read: Coronavirus spreads to over 60 countries, global toll reaches 3,000
Italy has reported a swelling number of cases of the coronavirus infection.
Italian authorities have announced that the number of people infected in the country soared 50% to 1694 in just 24 hours, and five more had died, bringing the death toll there to 34.
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First cases in Kerala
The first three cases of COVID-19, as the virus has been named, were reported among students from Kerala who returned from China’s Wuhan, which is the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak.
After the third case was reported, the southern state had declared a “medical calamity” last month and put restrictions on large gatherings and excursions.
Kerala had pressed the emergency button on February 3 after the third patient was detected in Kasaragod in north Kerala. It later withdrew the “calamity” warning after it successfully restricted the virus to the three students.
All three students were later discharged from the hospital.
Evacuations
India has evacuated hundreds of people from China and keeping an eye on all those who are flying home at airports across the country. Many have been quarantined at different hospitals in a number of cities.
In the first week of February, India had evacuated more than 600 of its citizens from the epicentre of Wuhan.
In Delhi, doctors have said they are continuing to keep a close watch on the second batch of evacuees from China amid the coronavirus scare.
The 112 evacuees brought from China on February 27, 2020, have been kept at the quarantine facility set up at the Indo-Tibetan Border Police’s Chhawla camp in the national capital.
Although all of them have tested negative for Covid-19, they are still under strict observation. The evacuees include 76 Indian and 36 foreign nationals.
Threat worldwide
The threat of a pandemic remains high with a worldwide surge in cases with no clear link to China, which has confirmed asymptomatic transmission of the infection that has now been reported in at least 60 countries.
China on Monday said 202 new confirmed cases of coronavirus and 42 deaths were reported across the country in the last 24 hours as authorities here tightened measures against imported cases with the outbreak situation rapidly worsening globally.
The overall confirmed cases on the mainland had reached 80,026 by the end of Sunday with 2912 people dying of the Covid-19 epidemic, national health commission (NHC) officials said on Monday.
The number of countries hit by the virus climbed past 60 on Sunday and the death toll worldwide reached at least 3000.
