Virus afflicts 82, toll rises to 2, several States go into shutdown mode
Coronavirus took second life in India on Friday killing a 68-year-old woman in Delhi’s Janakpuri area. The Union Health Ministry and the Delhi Government officials said the woman had come in contact with her affected son, who has travel history to Switzerland and Italy between February 5 and 22. Her death was caused due to co-morbidity (diabetes and hypertension), they said, adding she had tested positive for COVID-19.
As the number of positive cases reached 82 on Friday — eight more since Thursday night, which includes the woman and a 76-year-old man from Karnataka who became the country’s first coronavirus fatality besides 17 foreign nationals — several States have started shutting down schools, theatres and colleges, and many public events.
States like Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra on Friday donned battle gear to fight the pandemic by announcing the closure of various public places like shopping malls, theatres and educational institutions to avoid large gatherings.
The Centre, too, continued with its slew of measures: It intensified tracing of the confirmed cases, resulting in identification of more than 4,000 contacts who have been put under surveillance; it declared masks including N95 and hand sanitisers as ‘essential commodities’ up to June 30, 2020 amid reports of their shortage and black marketing; it briefed the representatives of more than 130 countries and international organisations, including over 100 envoys, about the proactive steps taken by it to combat the menace; and it decided to send an Air India flight to Milan on Saturday to bring back the 220 Indian students stranded there even as it brought back the second batch of 44 Indians from Iran. After China, Italy and Iran are the second and third most-affected due to the pandemic.
Air India, however, decided to cancel its regular flights to Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Israel, South Korea and Sri Lanka till April 30. So far, India has evacuated 1,031 people, including many foreigners on the request of their respective countries.
The Centre also decided to allow international traffic only through 19 border checkposts out of 37 and decided to continue suspension of Indo-Bangladesh cross border passenger trains and buses till April 15, or earlier, if so decided.
In between, some good news emerged. After the discharge of three Keralites who were the first positive cases in India, seven more coronavirus patients have been cured and will be discharged soon. As many as 71 others are “clinically stable”.
Sharing these details with reporters here, Union Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal, however, ruled out the need to invoke the Epidemic Act. “It is important to understand that it is not a health emergency. We are trying to support initiative taken by the State in terms of managing the situations. Covid-19 is not a health emergency and that there is no need to panic,” he said.
The number of novel coronavirus cases on Friday rose to 81, which include 16 Italians and one Canadian, he said. On Friday new cases emerged from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.
Meanwhile, 124 evacuees from Japan, 112 evacuees from China are being discharged from Friday onwards after testing negative for COVID-19, Agarwal said.
Union Ministry of Civil Aviation Joint Secretary Rubina Ali briefed the reporters about efforts being taken to bail out stranded Indian citizens on foreign land. “An exercise will be undertaken on Saturday to bring back Indian passengers stranded in Iran. Air India will also send a flight to Milan on Saturday to bring back stranded Indians. It will land on Sunday morning at Delhi airport,” she said.
Dammu Ravi from Ministry of External Affairs Ministry said that around 220 students are in and around Milan, Italy and our priority is to bring them back. If any other students are left behind they can contact our missions, and we will see what next we can do, he added. Italy has more than 15,000 cases and over 1,000 deaths -- the most outside of China, the epicentre of the disease.
Meanwhile, the second batch of 44 Indian pilgrims arrived from Iran, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday said.
With the World Health Organisation (WHO) declaring coronavirus a pandemic, Agarwal said 42,000 people across the country are under community surveillance. States have come under vigilance mode. For instance, the Uttar Pradesh government announced on Friday that all schools and colleges in the state where exams were not going on, have been closed till March 22 in view of the coronavirus scare while Government, private schools in Madhya Pradesh will remain shut till further orders.
Similarly, the Haryana Government and Jammu & Kashmir too on Friday announced shutdown of all universities and colleges, cinema halls and public parks till March 31. Maharashtra which has reported overall 17 cases with Pune topping the list at 10 cases too have announced similar moves in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane, Nagpur, Pimpri-Chinchawad starting midnight on Friday till March 30.
Karnataka which has reported first death due to the deadly pathogen, announced lock-down of malls, cinema theatres, pubs and night clubs for a week to avoid large gathering in the wake of coronavirus outbreak which has claimed over 5,000 lives globally and infected over 1.34 lakh.
With the outbreak of novel coronavirus, the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur too decided to suspend all classes and exams as a precautionary measure till March 29. Similarly, Army has postponed its all recruitment rallies by a month as a precautionary measure.