Central govt asks states to ensure better infra

Covid-19: Coronavirus cases touch 46 in India

The number of novel coronavirus cases in India touched 46 on Monday with seven more persons testing positive since Sunday — two in Pune and one each from Kerala’s Ernakulam, Delhi, UP, Amritsar and Jammu. A three-year-old child in Kerala, who had returned from Italy, was among those infected.The count rose late on Monday after a Pune couple, who had returned from Dubai on March 1, tested positive. Forty-three cases are currently active while three have been discharged.The child and its parents had reached the Cochin International Airport from Italy on March 7. As the child had virus symptoms, all the three were immediately referred to the isolation ward of the Kalamassery Medical College hospital, officials said. The child’s samples sent for examination at the NIV lab have tested positive for coronavirus, they said.In Delhi, the fourth person, whose case was detected on Monday, had been in contact with the earlier identified Paytm employee, a resident of west Delhi’s Janakpuri, who had recently travelled to Italy, say sources.On Sunday, five new cases were reported from Kerala with three of a family with travel history to Italy, and two of their relatives, testing positive. They had failed to report their travel to Italy. The family is reported to have visited kin and attended a few functions. The ministry said efforts were on to trace their contacts.The ministry continued to appeal to people to observe dos and don’ts, coughing etiquette, handwashing and avoiding large gatherings. It also urged people to clearly reveal their travel history and fill the details in self-declaration forms accurately while travelling.The ministry also clarified that a man from Murshidabad, West Bengal, who died on Sunday had tested negative for Covid-19 and “hence, so far no death has been reported due to the disease in the country”. The samples of an elderly man who died in Ladakh have been sent for testing. Officials said the patient in Jammu — the first case in J&K — is learnt to have a travel history to Iran while one from UP came in contact with the six people from Agra who had tested positive. A patient, a resident of Italy, was under quarantine at Government Medical College in Amritsar.“We are sending detailed guidelines to all states on ways to contain coronavirus. We have asked states to strengthen laboratories and manpower to effectively deal with coronavirus and form early rapid action teams,” health minister Harsh Vardhan said. He maintained that the government was prepared to deal with the outbreak with a coordinated approach that included different government departments and agencies.The cabinet secretary on Monday reviewed the situation with chief secretaries of all states and emphasised upon surveillance at points of entry, in the community, laboratory support and hospital preparedness. Around 404 Indian contacts of a US citizen, who tested positive in Bhutan, have been put under surveillance in Assam.Meanwhile, another positive case was reported from Karnataka. A 40-year-old techie, who returned from the US via Dubai, reportedly tested positive for Covid-19 in Bengaluru. However, there was no confirmation from the Centre about this case till going to press.Over 9.41 lakh international passengers from 8,827 flights have been screened at airports. While 177 passengers have been hospitalised, 33,599 are under observation and another 21,867 have completed their observation period. Globally, over 1.1 lakh people from over 90 countries have tested positive and some 3,900 people have died.