(G.N.S) Dt. 28
New Delhi
Due to Coronavirus the death ratio in India as of March 28, according to data from the Health Ministry and State governments. As many as 895 people have been tested positive for the coronavirus.
India has been “proactive and preemptive, and graded” in its response to the Covid19 crisis, the government said on Saturday.
Amid criticism that three week lockdown announced on march 24 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was without prior planning, the Centre released a timeline of its actions since the breakout of the global pandemic.
It said India acted much before WHO declared COVID-19 as a public health emergency of international concern on January 30, to put in place a “comprehensive response system” at its borders.
Gujarat
With a rise of six more persons testing positive for coronavirus in Gujarat, the number of such cases in the state has risen to 53, an official said on Saturday.
The six new cases were reported since Friday evening, the official said.
“As many as six new cases were reported since last evening, taking the number of such cases in the state to 53,” Principal Secretary (Health) Jayanti Ravi said.
Three Covid-19 patients have so far died in the state-one each in Surat, Ahmedabad and Bhavnagar.
Kerala
69-year-old man who was admitted to the COVID-19 care centre in Ernakulam died at 8 a.m. on March 28. He is Kerala’s first COVID-19 victim.
The man, who had returned from Dubai, was admitted to Ernakulam Medical College Hospital with pneumonia on March 22, said the authorities in a statement.
He had a history of heart disease and high blood pressure, it said. As his condition worsened, he was put on ventilator, said Dr. Fathahudeen, the nodal officer for COVID-19 treatment in Ernakulam.
The deceased was a resident of Chullikkal near Fort Kochi in Ernakulam.
Tamilnadu
Tamil Nadu has recorded two new COVID-19 positive cases, TN health minister Dr. C. Vijayabaskar informed via Twitter.
This includes a 42-year-old male from Kumbakonam and a 49-year-old from Katpadi. Both have a history of foreign travel and had transit via Middle East. The former had returned from West Indies and the latter from United Kingdom, and are in isolation at the Thanjavur Medical College Hospital in Thanjavur and at a Vellore private hospital respectively. Both the patients are stable.
Maharashtra
Already, 11 members of this family from Sangli’s Islampur tehsil had tested positive, with the first four patients, who had a history of travel to Saudi Arabia, testing positive on March 23. Since then, 19 others — 18 from the same family and a woman from Peth Vadgaon in Kolhapur district who was in touch with this family — have been infected with the virus.
State Water Resources Minister Jayant Patil, who is the MLA from Islampur, said the area where the family lives has been cordoned off and additional measures are being taken to check the spread of infection.
“This [sharp rise in number of cases] is indeed a worrying development. All members of this family are being kept in isolation facilities in Miraj. To prevent the virus from spreading, we have decided that only one person from the family who has not been infected will step out to buy essential items,” Mr. Patil said.
At the same time, he said there was no immediate cause for concern as all patients in the family are stable. “Some members of this family are aged between 62 and 65. However, I have spoken with them and they are fine and are experiencing no respiratory problems,” he said.
With this, Sangli has now recorded 23 cases, while the number of cases in Pune division, including Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Satara and Sangli, stands at 58 — a surge of 16 in the past 24 hours.
The Sangli district authorities have taken action against nearly 1,700 people since the Janata Curfew on March 22 for violating lockdown orders.
With one positive case, the Kolhapur district administration, too, has tightened screws to prohibit assembly. The police have confiscated more than 350 private vehicles and will return them to owners only after April 15, said police inspector Vasant Babar, in-charge of Kolhapur city’s traffic department.
Meanwhile, in a positive development, the first three patients in Pimpri-Chinchwad to have tested positive have been discharged from YCM Hospital after their repeat samples tested negative, Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Commissioner Shravan Hardikar said.
All three were given a rousing farewell by hospital staff, whom they thanked profusely for their care.
Jammu & Kashmir
J&K government spokesman Rohit Kansal said two of the six positive cases had history of travel abroad and the other two had gone outside J&K as a part of religious congregation.
“Around 5,763 travellers and persons in contact with suspected cases have been put under surveillance. Five reports are still awaited,” said an official.
Two more positive cases were confirmed from Rajouri district in Jammu. “One is a family member of Thursday’s confirmed case, the other has a contact history with a confirmed (now deceased) case,” said J&K government spokesman Rohit Kansal.
