New Delhi: A three-year-old child in Kerala who returned from Italy with parents over the weekend is among India's five new coronavirus patients, taking the total number of cases in the country to 44, the health ministry officials said on Monday.
Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Jammu reported one case each, officials said. "One more new case has been reported from Punjab. Thus, as of now there are 44 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country," the ministry said in a statement, adding that the figure includes the three patients from Kerala who were discharged last month following recovery.
One more case was reported positive for coronavirus by state officials in Karnataka, but there was no immediate confirmation from the Union health ministry.
The ministry also clarified that the patient from Murshidabad, West Bengal, who died on Sunday had tested negative for the infection and "hence so far no death has been reported due to the disease in the country".
In the wake of rising cases of coronavirus, the cabinet secretary held a meeting via video conference with chief secretaries of all states and Union territories on Monday. He laid emphasis on actions such as surveillance at points of entry (PoE), surveillance in the community, laboratory support and hospital preparedness.
As many as 11,913 cases are under Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) community follow-up. Also 404 Indian contacts of the US citizen tested positive in Bhutan have been identified and put under surveillance in Assam, the ministry said.
As the COVID-19 scare spread — with 110,041 people from more than 90 countries infected and 3,825 people killed — India sent a military transport aircraft with a specialist medical team to Iran on Monday night to bring back Indians stranded in the nation.
Around 2,000 Indians are living in Iran, where 7,000 people have tested positive for the contagious disease with flu-like symptoms and 237 people killed.
According to the Indian Air Force, its C-17 Globemaster military aircraft left for Iran from the Hindon airbase at 8.30 pm and will return on Tuesday morning. "The aircraft has a specialist medical team onboard. Indian citizens will be flown to Hindan where medical facilities including quarantine have been set up," the IAF tweeted.
So far, the government has evacuated 890 passengers from COVID-19 affected countries. Out of these, 842 were Indian citizens and 48 belonging to different nationalities including Maldives, Myanmar, Bangladesh, China, US, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Nepal, South Africa and Peru, the ministry said.
Giving details of the new cases reported in India, officials said the patient in Jammu, the first case in Jammu and Kashmir, is learnt to have a travel history to Iran while the patient from Uttar Pradesh had come in contact with the six people from Agra who had tested positive.
The Delhi patient has no travel history and had come in contact with a positive patient from the city, Delhi Health Department officials added.
With Delhi recording its fourth coronavirus case, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan chaired a meeting with Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and senior officials.
A Punjab official said in Chandigarh that a Hoshiarpur resident, who returned from Italy last week, was tested positive for coronavirus, the first such case in the state. Later, the Centre confirmed the case.
Gaps in Screening?
In Kerala, one of the three fresh coronavirus infected people claimed they had informed Kochi airport authorities about their travel from Italy and no directive was given to them for screening.
The government, however, reiterated its stand that the trio did not follow the protocol for the people who come from nations hit by COVID-19, including Italy, on their arrival at the international airport in Kochi on February 29.
The 24-year old patient told local media that they would have undergone medical examinations had they been informed about it by any official at the airport.
"They (the officials) did not give us any directive for medical examinations even after they were informed that we are coming from Italy," he told local media here.
"We came from Italy to meet my aged grandfather and grandmother. Had we come to know that we were infected with the coronavirus, we would not have met them," he was quoted as having said.
The man and his parents who returned from Italy via Doha have been admitted to the isolation ward of the government general hospital here after they tested positive for coronavirus along with two of their close relatives staying in their home at Rani in Pathnamthitta district.
State Health Minister KK Shailaja had on Sunday said the trio — a couple in their 50s and their son — had taken two connecting flights from Venice in Italy but did not report their foreign travel to officials on arrival at the airport in Kochi.
"The Italy-returned family hid their travel details from the health authorities. Such practices have to seen as a crime. Those who come from countries like Iran, Italy, South Korea and China should report to the health department immediately," she had said.
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