(Eds: Updating number of cases ) New Delhi, Mar 15 () The number of novel <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> cases in the country rose to 107 on Sunday, with 12 fresh cases in Maharashtra, the Union Health Ministry said. The number of cases include two persons who died in Delhi and Karnataka. While a 76-year-old man from Kalaburagi who had recently returned from Saudi Arabia died on Thursday, a 68-year-old woman in Delhi who had tested positive for coronavirus passed away at the Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital on Friday night. Delhi has reported seven positive cases and Uttar Pradesh 11 so far. Karnataka has six coronavirus patients while Maharashtra 31, Ladakh three and Jammu and Kashmir 2. Telangana reported three cases. Besides, Rajasthan also reported two cases. Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab have reported one case each. Kerala has recorded 22 cases, including three patients who were discharged last month after they recovered from the contagious infection with flu-like symptoms. The total number of confirmed cases includes 17 foreigners -- 16 Italian tourists and a Canadian, the ministry officials said Amid rising <keyword id="8674550" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Coronavirus-cases-in-India">coronavirus cases in India</keyword>, the government has asked people not to panic, saying no community transmission of the virus has been observed and there has only been a few cases of local transmission so far and that it is "not a health emergency" in India at present. With the World Health Organisation (WHO) declaring COVID-19 a pandemic, a Health Ministry official said over 4,000 people who had come in contact with the 93 positive cases have been identified through contact tracing and were being tracked while 42,000 people across the country are under community surveillance. He said all essential facilities like community surveillance, quarantine, isolation wards, adequate personal protective equipment (PPEs), trained manpower, rapid response teams are being strengthened further in all states and union territories. The government on Wednesday suspended all visas, barring a few categories like diplomatic and employment, in an attempt to prevent the spread of coronavirus. It has asked Indian nationals to avoid all non-essential travel abroad. All incoming international passengers returning to India should self-monitor their health and follow the required do's and dont's as detailed by the government. PLB DV DV

Coronavirus cases in India climb to 107, cases rise in Maharashtra

The number of novel coronavirus cases in the country rose to 107 on Sunday, with 12 fresh cases in Maharashtra, the Union Health Ministry said. The number of cases include two persons who died in Delhi and Karnataka. While a 76-year-old man from Kalaburagi who had recently returned from Saudi Arabia died on Tuesday, a 68-year-old woman in Delhi who had tested positive for coronavirus passed away at the Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital on Friday night. Delhi has so far reported seven positive cases and Uttar Pradesh 11. Karnataka has six coronavirus patients while Maharashtra 31, Ladakh three and Jammu and Kashmir 2. Telangana reported three cases. Rajasthan also reported two cases. Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab have reported one case each. Kerala has recorded 22 cases, including three patients who were discharged last month after they recovered from the contagious infection with flu-like symptoms. The total number of confirmed cases includes 17 foreigners -- 16 Italian tourists and a Canadian, the ministry officials said. Amid rising <keyword id="8674550" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Coronavirus-cases-in-India">coronavirus cases in India</keyword>, the government has asked people not to panic, saying no community transmission of the virus has been observed and there has only been a few cases of local transmission so far and that it is "not a health emergency" in India at present. With the World Health Organisation (WHO) declaring COVID-19 a pandemic, a health ministry official said over 4,000 people who had come in contact with the 93 positive cases have been identified through contact tracing and were being tracked while 42,000 people across the country are under community surveillance. He said all essential facilities like community surveillance, quarantine, isolation wards, adequate personal protective equipment (PPEs), trained manpower, rapid response teams are being strengthened further in all states and union territories. An order has been placed for the procurement of an additional over 80,50,000 N95 masks and personal protective equipment for healthcare workers, the health ministry said. It also clarified the 71-year-old man from Maharashtra's Buldhana who admitted to a private hospital and died during treatment on Saturday has tested negative for coronavirus infection. He had returned from Saudi Arabia recently and had diabetes and high blood pressure. The government on Wednesday suspended all visas, barring a few categories like diplomatic and employment, in an attempt to prevent the spread of coronavirus. It has asked Indian nationals to avoid all non-essential travel abroad. All incoming international passengers returning to India should self-monitor their health and follow the required do's and dont's as detailed by the government.

107 Coronavirus cases in India now, 31 in Maharashtra alone

Thiruvananthapuram, May 28 () In the biggest single day spike, Kerala reported 84 COVID-19 cases on Thursday taking the infection tally to 1,088, while a man hailing from Telangana, who reached here from Rajasthan and tested positive, succumbed to the virus. The deceased had wrongly boarded the Jaipur-Thiruvananthapuram special train on May 22 under the impression that it was bound for his home state and reached here along with his five family members without the requisite documents. The 68-year-old man, who was under observation and later admitted to the general hospital here after he showed symptoms of the virus, died on Wednesday, a government press release said. His wife, two children and two other family members are under observation at acare centre at nearby Poojapura. The body has been shifted to the mortuary and as it was a COVID-19 death, the final rites are likely to be held here itself. His sample result was received today. With the latest casualty,seven people have died of the infection in the state. On May 26, the state had reported the biggest single day spike of 62, prompting chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan to warn that the state risks sliding into community transmission and losing all its gains if people under observation fail to follow health guidelines. Vijayan said today "so far there has been no community spread in the state, but we cannot say it will never happen." "We have been diligently following the directions of the ICMR with regard to the testing in the state.The ICMR has been insisting on antibody test but the test kits provided by it was not of good quality. They themselves asked us not to use it," he said. The "sentinel surveillance" has been effective in Kerala and that was how the state had come to the conclusion that community spread has not yet reached the Kerala society. Kerala has the lowest mortality rate in COVID-19 cases and also the best recovery rate, Vijayan said. "Some people are indulging in fake news that the state has been fudging numbers regarding COVID-19. But even the centre and the union health ministry has praised the manner in which the state has been fighting the pandemic," he said. Otherstates have been asked to follow the Kerala model,he said, adding,the Centre has said that some states have been fudging numbers but Kerala was not in that list. Presently 526 people are undergoing treatment for the pandemic and 1.15 lakh are under observation. Of the infected, 31 had come from abroad and 48 from others states, including 31 from Maharashtra, nine from Tamil Nadu and three from Karnataka. While five people were infected through contact, three people have been cured of the infection and discharged from hospitals. "ICMR guidelines direct us to test anyone with common flu. Kerala has a low rate of spread of virus through contact. Here the people are fighting the pandemic together. This is not a disease which someone can hide for a long time," he said. Kasaragod reported 18 positive cases on Thursday, followed by Palakkad 16, Kannur 10, Malappuram eight, Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur seven each, Kozhikode and Pathnamthitta six each, Kottayam three, Kollam, Idukki and Alappuzha one each. There are 82 hot spots in the state, including six new additions on Thursday. Two remand prisoners in Thiruvanathapuram have tested positive for the coronavirus today following which two police personnel of the Venjaramoodpolice station have gone into self-quarantine as a precautionary measure. As per the latest medical bulletin, Palakkad has the highest number of positive cases, 105, followed by Kannur with 93, Kasaragod 63 and Malappuram 52. The state capital Thiruvananthapuram has 36 cases. RRT UD BN WELCOME BN WELCOME

Kerala coronavirus tally touches 1,088 with 84 fresh cases, Telangana man dies of COVID-19

(Eds: Combining health ministry related stories) New Delhi, May 18 () The COVID-19 death toll rose to 3,029 and the number of cases climbed to 96,169 on Monday, registering an increase of 157 fatalities and a record jump of 5,242 cases in 24 hours, even as the government asserted that India was faring better than others with 7.1 cases per one lakh population as against 60 globally.Amid spurt in cases, the ICMR revised its testing strategy stating the returnees from abroad and migrants who show symptoms for influenza-like illness will be tested for COVID-19 within seven days of ailment and stressed that no emergency clinical procedure, including deliveries, should be delayed for lack of testing. It also added that all hospitalised patients who develop symptoms for influenza-like illness (ILI) and frontline workers involved in containment and mitigation of COVID-19 having such signs will also be tested for coronavirus infection through RT-PCR test.Besides, asymptomatic direct and high-risk contacts of a confirmed case are to be tested once between day five and day 10 of coming in contact, the revised test strategy document stated.With relaxation in lockdown measures, the Health Ministry issued guidelines on preventive steps to contain the spread of the virus in workplaces, outlining that the entire office building need not be closed if one or two cases of COVID-19 are reported there and work can resume after it is disinfected as per protocol. However, if there is a larger outbreak, the entire building will have to be closed for 48 hours. All staff will work from home till the building is adequately disinfected and is declared fit for re-occupation, it said.The ministry the number of active COVID-19 cases in the country stood at 56,316 till Monday morning while 36,824 people have recovered. In the last 24 hours, a total of 2,715 patients have been cured, taking the recovery rate to 38.39 per cent, it said in a statement.However, a tally of figures announced by different states and UTs as of 9.40 PM put the number of those having tested positive for the infection at 1,00,096, with a death toll of 3,078 and recoveries at 38,596 across the country.To substantiating its point that the spread of the infection in the country has been slow, the health ministry referred to data from WHO situation report, saying 45,25,497 COVID-19 cases have been reported globally till Monday which is about 60 cases per lakh population.Among the countries with very high load of coronavirus cases, the USA, with 14,09,452 instances of the infection so far, has around 431 cases per lakh population. Russia has reported 2,81,752 cases and has around 195 cases per lakh population, it said. The UK has so far reported 2,40,165 cases which is 361 cases per lakh population while Spain with 2,30,698 instances of the disease has about 494 cases per lakh. In Italy has 2,24,760 total cases and about 372 cases per lakh population and Brazil with 2,18,223 cases has 104 cases per lakh population. Germany which has registered 1,74,355 instances of the infection has around 210 cases per lakh population, Turkey with 1,48,067 cases has 180 cases per lakh population, France with 1,40,008 cases has around 209 cases per lakh population and Iran with 1,18,392 cases has 145 cases per lakh population."Aggressive and early measures so far have shown encouraging results," the ministry said.In its guidelines for workplace settings, it said, "There is a need to prevent importation of infection in workplace settings and to respond in a timely and effective manner in case a suspect case of COVID-19 is detected in these settings so as to limit the spread of infection."The basic preventive measures include maintaining physical distancing of at least one meter, mandatory use of face covers or masks, practising frequent hand-washing for at least 40-60 seconds even when hands are not visibly dirty and use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers.Respiratory etiquettes such as covering mouth and nose while coughing or sneezing with a tissue, handkerchief or flexed elbow and disposing of used tissues properly should be strictly followed besides self-monitoring of health by all and reporting any illness at the earliest, the guidelines state.As for offices, guidelines with respect to preventive measures specific to offices issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) should be followed, it said.The ministry, however, stated that, despite taking the measures, occurrence COVID-19 infection among the employees working in the office cannot be ruled out.It stated that any staff reportedly suffering from a flu-like illness should not attend office and seek medical advice from local health authorities. Such persons, if diagnosed as a suspect or confirmed case of COVID-19 should immediately inform office authorities, it said.high-risk exposure contacts will be quarantined for 14 days and they will follow the guidelines on home quarantine and undergo testing as per ICMR protocol while low-risk contacts shall continue to work and closely monitor their health for next 14 days, the ministry stated.According to the health ministry data, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 33,053 followed by Gujarat at 11,379, Tamil Nadu at 11,224, Delhi at 10,054 Rajasthan at 5,202, Madhya Pradesh at 4,977 and Uttar Pradesh at 4,259. India has been under a lockdown since March 25, which was first supposed to be for 21 days or toll April 14, but was later extended till May 3, then further till May 17 and now for another two weeks till May 31. PLBNSD

Record jump in COVID-19 cases; Govt says India faring better than others in managing virus spread

(Eds: Combining related stories) New Delhi, May 15 () Thirty municipal areas account for 79 per cent of India's coronavirus infection caseload, the Group of Ministers (GoM) on COVID-19 was informed on Friday, as the death toll in the country due to the disease rose to 2,649 and the total tally of cases climbed to 81,970.An increase of 100 deaths and 3,967 cases was recorded in the last 24 hours since Thursday 8 am, according to the Union Health Ministry.The number of active cases stood at 51,401 while 27,919 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, it said. "Thus, around 34.06 per cent patients have recovered so far," a senior health ministry official said.As cases continue to rise, the GoM deliberated on the containment strategy and management of COVID-19, as well as the measures being taken by the Centre and various states. At the 15th meeting of the high-level GoM held, under the chairmanship of Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, a detailed presentation on the current situation due to the coronavirus outbreak, both globally and in India, was made, according to a health ministry statement.The GoM was informed at the meeting that worldwide, the total COVID-19 cases stand at 42,48,389 with 2,94,046 deaths and fatality rate of 6.92 per cent, whereas in India, the fatality rate is pegged at 3.23 per cent.It was also informed that "there are 30 municipal areas which constitute 79 per cent of India's caseload", the statement said.A total of 27,920 people have been cured of the disease with 1,685 in the last 24 hours, taking the recovery rate to 34.06 per cent, the ministry said. "It was also highlighted that the impact of the lockdown was seen on the doubling rate which improved from 3.4 days in the pre-lockdown week to 12.9 days in the last week," it said.At the meeting it was stressed that the focus of COVID-19 management strategy needs to be on the states with the highest number of confirmed cases and fatalities as well as on treatment and case fatality management, for which timely detection and contact tracing were the best way forward, it said.The GoM was also apprised about various recommendations of the Centre for containment zone management pertaining to indicators, root causes and action required. These have been shared with the states and union territories, the ministry said.Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Minister of State for Home Nityananda Rai, Minister of State for Shipping, and Chemical and Fertilizers Mansukh Lal Mandaviya, and Minister of State for Health Ashwini Kumar Choube were present at the meeting.On health infrastructure preparedness, the GoM was told that as on Friday, a total of 8,694 facilities comprising 919 dedicated COVID-19 hospitals, 2,036 health centres and 5,739 care centres with a total of 2,77,429 beds for severe and critical cases, 29,701 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds and 5,15,250 isolation beds, are available.Also, 18,855 ventilators are now available to combat the virus, the health ministry said.The Group of Ministers was also informed that domestic manufacturers have reached a daily production capacity of nearly three lakh personal protective equipment (PPE) and an equal number of N-95 masks which is sufficient to meet the nation's requirement in the near future. Moreover, ventilator manufacturing by domestic manufacturers has also started and orders have been placed.The Centre has provided 84.22 lakh N-95 masks and 47.98 lakh PPE to states, union territories and central institutions. Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director General Balram Bhargava informed the GoM that the testing capacity has increased in the country to 1,00,000 tests per day through 509 government and private laboratories.The number of RT-PCR tests for detection of COVID-19 in India crossed the two million mark on Friday, ICMR officials said.A total of 20,39,952 samples have been tested as on May 15 at 9 am in the country with 92,911 tests being conducted since Thursday 9 am, Dr Rajnikant Srivastava, ICMR's head of Department of Research Management, Policy Planning and Communication in Delhi said.The GoM was also apprised about the efforts of the Ministry of External Affairs and the Civil Aviation Ministry in cooperation with state governments to prepare a staggered timeline of flights to bring back Indian citizens stranded abroad. "In Phase-1 of the exercise, around 12,000 Indians have been brought back and quarantined in the respective states," the health ministry said. Union Health Minister Vardhan, meanwhile, has appealed to all states and union territories to ban sale of smokeless tobacco products and spitting in public places in line with the orders of the Rajasthan and Jharkhand governments to prevent the spread of coronavirus infection.In a letter to all state health ministers, he said smokeless tobacco users have a tendency to spit in public places or otherwise and therefore, increase health risks especially those of spreading contagious diseases like COVID-19, tuberculosis, swine flu, encephalitis and others.In another significant development, with COVID-19 cases continuing to rise in South-East Asia, the WHO cautioned countries in the region to take "evidence-informed action" and conduct careful assessment of the local epidemiology before winding down the health and social measures taken to combat the virus.The region has nearly 1,22,000 cases and 4,000 deaths due to COVID-19. In India, the death toll rose to 2,649 and the number of cases climbed to 81,970, according to latest data.Countries in the region are in various transmission scenarios and the cases are increasing. In every transmission scenario, the core public health measures remain - rapidly detect, test, isolate, care and trace contacts, said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia.Fatalities continued to rise in India with 100 more deaths since Thursday. Of the 100 deaths, 44 were in Maharashtra, 20 in Gujarat, 9 in Delhi, 8 in West Bengal, five each in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, four in Rajasthan, two each in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and one in Andhra Pradesh. PLB ASK ANBANB

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Coronavirus cases in India climb to 107, cases rise in Maharashtra

BI India Bureau

107 Coronavirus cases in India now, 31 in Maharashtra alone

PTI

Kerala coronavirus tally touches 1,088 with 84 fresh cases, Telangana man dies of COVID-19

PTI

Record jump in COVID-19 cases; Govt says India faring better than others in managing virus spread

PTI

30 municipal areas account for 79 pc of India's COVID caseload; cases near 82,000-mark

PTI