Medics outside an isolation ward meant for coronavirus patients at a Hyderabad hospital. India reported three fresh cases of coronavirus, or Covid-19, this week (PTI photo)

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) epidemic is knocking on Indian doors after infecting tens of thousands of people in over 60 countries across the world. This week, India reported three fresh coronavirus cases, taking the total number of confirmed infections in the country to six. And since then, focus has increasingly shifted to the fallout impact of the new Covid-19 cases and to the question of how ready the country is to fight the global outbreak.

Covid-19 first originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The disease, that leads to illnesses ranging from common cold, fever, shortness of breath to pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death, is caused by a kind of coronavirus never seen before. This led to the virus initially being called novel coronavirus 2019 (nCov-19). The disease was later formally labelled Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19). In the media, it's being widely called coronavirus.

As of Tuesday, coronavirus has infected more than 89,000 people in over 60 countries. The virus has killed more than 3,000 people in around 8 countries. Most of these cases (80,151 infected and 2,943 dead) are from mainland China, the epicentre of the Covid-19 outbreak, according to figures compiled by news agency Reuters.

India has largely escaped the brunt of the outbreak so far. But the three fresh cases reported this week have brought the spotlight on how prepared the country is to deal with the coronavirus outbreak and how the situation stands currently. Here, we recap everything that's happened in India vis-à-vis the coronavirus outbreak. Remember, this information is as of March 3.

CORONAVIRUS IN INDIA: CURRENT AND PAST CASES

So far, India has reported six positive cases of coronavirus, or Covid-19. Of these, three were from Kerala and one each from Delhi, Hyderabad and Jaipur. The Kerala cases were reported in February, while the Delhi, Hyderabad and Jaipur infections were confirmed this week.

KERALA: Kerala was the first state in the country to report positive cases of coronavirus. Three residents, all of whom had returned from the coronavirus epicentre Wuhan, tested positive for the disease and were put under isolation. They received treatment in Kerala hospitals and were discharged one after the other after their follow-up tests turned negative. By February 20, all three -- all students from Wuhan -- were discharged from hospitals.

DELHI: On Monday, two fresh cases of coronavirus were reported in India. Of these, one was of a 45-year-old Delhi man who had returned from Europe on February 25. His travel history revealed that he had travelled from Italy to Budapest in Hungary and finally to Vienna in Austria from where he flew to India on an Air India flight. He is currently under quarantine at a Delhi hospital.

Coronavirus do's and don'ts (Courtesy: Minstry of Health/PIB)

HYDERABAD: The second fresh case reported in India was of a 24-year-old software engineer who had returned from Dubai. The techie had flown from Dubai to Bengaluru, where he works, before travelling to Hyderabad on a bus. In Hyderabad, the techie reported symptoms of Covid-19 and was admitted to a government hospital where he was found to be infected with coronavirus. He is presently under quarantine there.

JAIPUR: A 69-year-old Italian tourist admitted to a hospital in Jaipur tested positive for coronavirus on Tuesday. Two earlier tests of the Italian man had shown discrepancies with one coming up negative while the other positive. A re-verification test conducted at the Pune-based National Institute of Virology confirmed that the man was indeed infected with coronavirus.

FALLOUT OF NEW CASES

The initial three coronavirus cases in Kerala were comparatively localised compared to what has happened this week. The three new cases have had secondary consequences as authorities rushed to contain any possible spread of the new virus.

Noida schools shut

The Delhi man who tested positive for coronavirus has had authorities in neighbouring Noida on the edge. Before testing positive, the man threw a birthday party for his son at a prominent Delhi five-star. This triggered fears that the son's schoolmates who attended the party could be at risk.

As a precautionary measure, the private school where the kids study shut down for the remainder of this week. In an email to parents, the schools said the move was purely precautionary and that no student or parents other than the one infected had been found coronavirus positive.

The private institution also said it was taking preventive steps such as fumigation of the campus and school buses. Separately, another Noida-based school said it would remain shut for the next few days so that it could sanitise its campus as a precautionary step.

Air India warns fliers

On Tuesday, Air India, which flew the Delhi coronavirus patient from Vienna to India, sent out an advisory to the passengers of that flight. The national carrier said that passengers who had flown on the February 25 Air India Flight 154 from Vienna to Delhi must come forward and follow the protocol notified by the Union Ministry of Health.

#FlyAI : This is for the attention of passengers who flew on AI154 Vienna-Delhi of 25th Feb' 20. One of the passengers has tested positive for #coronavirus. Please follow the protocol notified by the Ministry of Health regarding Corona Virus. Kindly visit https://t.co/YR6yHUi4Or. Air India (@airindiain) March 3, 2020

Air India has essentially asked passengers of the flight to come forward and get themselves screened for symptoms of coronavirus. Meanwhile, the Air India crew that had flown the flight in question is already under quarantine. The ten crew members have been asked to keep themselves under isolation at home and report to doctors if they notice any symptoms of Covid-19.

Separately, low-cost carrier IndiGo, which flew the Bengaluru techie on a Dubai-Bengaluru flight, has placed four crew members from the flight under home observation.

Telangana, Karnataka begin hunt

Down south, authorities in Telangana and Karnataka are rushing to identify all those who interacted with the 24-year-old Bengaluru techie who tested positive for coronavirus this week. By Monday evening, authorities had identified around 80 people the techie had come in contact with. These included doctors at the hospital he was admitted to, his roommates as well as co-passengers on the bus he took from Bengaluru to Hyderabad.

On Tuesday, Telangana's health minister said that all those whom the Bengaluru techie, who's admitted to a Hyderabad hospital, had come in contact with are beign screened. The minister also said that they are collecting information on those who had travelled with the young man from Dubai to Bengaluru.

The minister said that more than half the people the techie had contact with have been identified and that both the Telangana and Karnataka governments are taking care of the people at risk.

Agra on alert

Agra in Uttar Pradesh is also on alert after links emerged with both the Delhi coronavirus patient and the Italian tourist who tested positive for Covid-19 in Jaipur.

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Health said in a statement that six people from Agra with "high viral load" have been placed under isolation and their blood samples have been sent to the Pune-based National Institute of Virology for testing.

The statement added that the six people had come in contact with the Delhi coronavirus patient. News agency PTI, quoting sources, reported that the 45-year-old man had come to Agra to visit his family and that this is how he came in contact with the six people.

Separately, it's been discovered that the coronavirus-infected Italian tourist in Jaipur was travelling with a group of people that visited Agra this weekend. It's unclear whether the Italian man himself visited the city, but news agency PTI reported that the city's hotels and tourist sites have been asked to inform authorities as visitors from Italy, Iran or China arrive.

GOVT GEARS UP FOR CORONAVIRUS BATTLE

With fresh cases being reported in India, the government has gone on war-footing to combat the global threat. Among the new measures taken include:

Stepped-up screening: Thermal screening of passengers at airports and other ports of entry has been increased. According to a Ministry of Health statement, all passengers arriving directly or indirectly from China, South Korea, Japan, Iran, Italy, Hong Kong, Macau, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Nepal, Thailand, Singapore and Taiwan must undergo medical screening while entering India.

Laboratories ready: Indian laboratories have been on a standby for coronavirus testing for a while now. According to a February 6 statement by the India Council of Medical Research, at least 12 laboratories and centres across the country are equipped to test for coronavirus. The Pune-based National Institute of Virology remains the foremost laboratory for all verification and reconfirmation tests.

Travel restrictions: On Tuesday, the government issued a revised list of travel advisories warning Indian citizens against travelling China, Iran, South Korea and Italy, which are among countries worst hit by the coronavirus outbreak. The government also said that Indians should avoid all non-essential travel to any other country that has been affected by Covid-19. Simultanously, the government also issued fresh directives for foreign nationals who intend on travelling to India (read more on the fresh travel advisories here).

Export of medicine restricted: On Tuesday, the government also moved to prevent a shortage of medicine in the country. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade placed restrictions on the export of several essential medicines. According to a Business Today report, the medicines on the restricted list include paracetamol, neomycin, acyclovir, tinidazole, metronidazole, ornidazole, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B1, progesterone, clindamycin salts, erythromycin salts, chloramphenicol, and its formulations.

Disinfection of aircraft: On Tuesday, aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation issued new guidelines making it mandatory for all aircraft from South Korea, Japan and Italy to be disinfected on arrival. In an advisory, DGCA all such aircraft must be disinfected before a fresh set of passengers boards the plane. Buses used to transport passenger on planes arriving from South Korea, Japan and Italy too will need to be mandatorily disinfected.

THE WUHAN EVACUATION

India's first brush with the coronavirus outbreak was a mammoth operation undertaken by the government to rescue and evacuate Indian citizens stuck in China's Wuhan and on a cruise ship anchored off Japan's coast.

National carrier Air India flew three emergency flights -- two to Wuhan and one to Tokyo -- to bring back Indian citizens from the respective cities. The two Air India flights to Wuhan rescued nearly 650 Indians while Tokyo flight brought back around 120 Indians who were stranded on Diamond Princess, a cruise ship that was quarantined off the Japanese coast after people onboard got infected with coronavirus.

India starts evacuation of Indians from Wuhan, China following outbreak of novel #Coronavirus. First special flight of #AirIndia, Jumbo 747 with 15 cabin and five cockpit crew members reached Wuhan for evacuation. The double-decker aircraft is configured with 423 seats. pic.twitter.com/ezrmRbTiOe All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) January 31, 2020

Simultaneously, an Indian Air Force transport aircraft, which flew to Wuhan with emergency medical supplies, rescued another set of Indians from the virus-hit city on its return journey. All the evacuees from China and Japan underwent 14-day quarantines back home. Most of them have been released after testing negative for Covid-19.

So, in short: There have been six confirmed cases of coronavirus in India. Three of these -- all from Kerala -- later tested negative and the patients were discharged after treatment. The three new patients -- reported in Delhi, Hyderabad and Jaipur this week -- are under isolation at different hospitals and the government is working on tracking people the patients came in contact with. Globally, coronavirus has infected more than 89,000 people in over 60 countries and has killed more than 3,000 people in around 8 countries as of March 3.

(With inputs from India Today TV bureaus)