NEW DELHI - India saw a sudden spurt in coronavirus cases on Wednesday (March 4), with 23 new cases emerging amid growing panic within the country.

The total number of people infected with Covid-19 in India has now touched 29.

The latest case is an employee of India's e-commerce payment system and financial technology firm Paytm. The employee, who is from its office in Gurgaon, a city just south-west of New Delhi, had recently returned from a vacation in Italy.

Paytm will shut down two of its offices - in Gurgaon and in Noida - for at least two days.

India’s Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said earlier on Wednesday that 16 Italian tourists and an Indian who was driving them around had tested positive for the virus.

Separately, six relatives of a man who was confirmed positive on Monday also tested positive for the virus.

“The government is taking all measures to spread awareness. There is no need to panic but people can avoid mass gatherings,” the minister said at a press conference.

Amid panic buying of disinfectant and masks across different parts of the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had urged Indians not to panic, also asked people to stay away from large gatherings.

“Experts across the world have advised to reduce mass gatherings to avoid the spread of Covid-19 Novel Coronavirus. Hence, this year I have decided not to participate in any Holi Milan programme,” Mr Modi tweeted.

Milan means gathering in Hindi.

Holi, known as the festival of colours, is a popular Hindu festival, where people smear each other with colour and throw coloured water or water-filled balloons.

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The festival marks the arrival of spring, and on the day, people usually gather to celebrate the festival together.

Mr Modi’s Cabinet colleagues, including Home Minister Amit Shah, also tweeted that they would not participate in Holi programmes, as did other political leaders like Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.

President Ramnath Kovind also announced that the “traditional” Holi celebrations at Rashtrapati Bhawan, the President’s house, were cancelled as a “precautionary measure”.

The sudden upsurge in cases saw the government hold rounds of high-level meetings amid announcements that India would now screen all passengers coming into India amid the ongoing pandemic. India's three initial cases in the southern state of Kerala have since recovered.

“From now on, all flights and passengers will be part of universal screening, not just the 12 countries which we had listed earlier,” said Dr Vardhan during a press conference.

The earlier 12 countries had included Singapore.

All passengers will also have to submit self-declaration forms when they arrive. These forms include contact details and travel history that are to be submitted to immigration and health officials at the airports. So far, 589,000 people have been screened at airports.

In another fallout of the Covid-19 outbreak, the government also brought in curbs on the export of 26 medicines and pharmaceutical ingredients including Paracetamol and antibiotics following the disruption of supplies from China.

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) announced a ban on export of Paracetamol, antibiotics like Erythromicin, Vitamin B1, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12 and their formulations to prevent any shortages within the country. China accounts for supply of 65 to 70 per cent of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients and intermediaries, materials needed for making drugs.