New Delhi: There are at least 25 positive cases of COVID-19 in India at present, the Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan informed Wednesday during a press conference here.
“There are at least 28 confirmed cases of the coronavirus that have been reported so far in India. Out of which three patients, who were earlier infected in Kerala, have been cured from the disease,” said the minister.
According to Vardhan, at present at least nine Indian nationals and 16 foreign nationals are infected with the disease. Most of these foreigners are Italians and it can be safely said that the coronavirus threat has returned to the country through the Italians.
“There is one patient in Delhi, one in Telangana and six in Agra who have tested positive for COVID-19. The driver of the group of Italian nationals, who were touring in Jaipur, has also tested positive. Apart from these, 16 Italian nationals have tested positive for the disease,” said Vardhan during the presser.
Talking about the potential of the spread of the disease, the minister said that one person in the national captaal spread the disease to six of his own family members in Agra. In the Italian national’s case the tourist infected his wife also and thus other group members.
According to the health minister, the government of Italy has asked the Italian nationals to stay in India only for the time being therefore all of them have been currently quarantined at the ITBP isolation facility in Chhawla.
“We had to trace at least 66 people’s contact in view of one positive case. In Telangana, at least 88 contacts were traced,” the minister told the media here. He added that people should avoid public gathering during this time. Even the Prime Minister has cancelled his ‘Holi Milan’ programmes in view of coronavirus.
In a statement released earlier by the Health Ministry, it said: “24 persons, including 21 Italian tourists and three Indians (bus driver, conductor and tourist guide) have been shifted to the ITBP facility for testing. Depending on the result, future course of action will be taken.”
In Jaipur the Health Minister of Rajasthan, Raghu Sharma informed Wednesday the Assembly that at least 215 people came in contact with the COVID-19 affected group of Italian tourists that had visited various places in the state.
Replying to an adjournment motion in the state Assembly, Sharma said swab samples of 93 people have been taken. A total of 51 suspected patients have been tested negative whereas reports of 41 others are still pending, Sharma stated. He said efforts are on to locate the others who came in contact with the Italians.
Coronavirus outbreak originated in China’s Wuhan city in December and has spread to over 60 countries since then, killing more than 3,000 and infecting over 90,000 across the world.
Meanwhile in a separate development in Bangalore global software major Wipro has suspended employee travel to coronavirus-stricken China, Hong Kong and Macau, the company said Wednesday.
“Wipro has suspended travel to and transit through mainland China, including Hong Kong and Macau, until further notice. Employees have also been advised to avoid non-critical travel to Singapore, South Korea, Japan and Italy,” Wipro said in a statement.
The company said any employee who has travelled to an affected place in China in the last few days has been advised to work from home for 14 days before resuming work in office.
“We have advised our employees to be vigilant, especially those based in China and those who have visited the country recently,” said Wipro.
“That apart, we have taken all necessary measures at our offices there (China), including thermal screening, surgical masks and frequent sanitization of premises,” said the company.
Agencies
