Coronavirus Updates: Confirmed Cases Close to One Lakh Globally; 31 Cases in India

Mar 06,2020

Coronavirus Updates: Confirmed Cases Close to One Lakh Globally; 31 Cases in India

Updates on coronavirus disease COVID-19 to continue on The Weather Channel India

Andhra Pradesh allocates Rs 200 cr to tackle coronavirus

Though Andhra Pradesh is yet report any positive coronavirus case, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday decided to allocate Rs 200 crore to meet any exigency. He also decided to allocate Rs 60 crore for setting up special wards in Vijayawada and Anantapur for the purpose.

Officials said that people coming from other countries are being thoroughly screened at the airports. All those returning from abroad are being asked to be under observation for 14 days. The officials said that 20 out of the 24 suspected cases in the state have turned negative, while the results on the remaining four are awaited.

Seek medical help if not feeling well: Health ministry

Gujarat health teams to be trained by US CDC, WHO

The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the US Centre for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta will train the Rapid Response Teams (RRT) of Gujarat and other states for the preparedness against the global threat of the deadly coronavirus infection.

The RRT of Gujarat is in Delhi since Friday for the training and all the district teams are also being trained through video conferencing. Till date not a single positive case of coronavirus has been detected in Gujarat. "From Gujarat there are six such RRTs who are in Delhi right now representing six zones into which the state is divided. The training by the WHO, CDC is being imparted to all the RRTs of the country right now in Delhi," said Jayanti Ravi, Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department, Gujarat.

With a sharp rise in numbers in Iran and Italy, the total number of confirmed cases has gone up to 99,701 as of Friday evening. Apart from 80,551 cases in China, South Korea (6,593), Iran (4,747) and Italy (3,858) have recorded maximum number of cases. The death toll has crossed 3,401 on Friday, with 148 deaths in Italy and 124 deaths in Iran.

The Civil Aviation Ministry will ask private airlines to give cancellation fee relief to passengers in the wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis. National carrier Air India has already waived off cancellation fees.

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that the government will give suitable recommendations to private airlines for providing relief in cancellation and refunds.

"I am very happy to tell you that Air India has already waived cancellation charges. You know, Air India, is a little more subject to our persuasion. All the others are private sector carriers. All I can tell you that we will be making suitable recommendations to the private sector carriers," Puri said here at a press conference.

The International Indian Film Academy Award (IIFA) ceremony, which was scheduled to take place in Indore city of Madhya Pradesh by March-end, has been postponed due to coronavirus scare. The organisers of the festival on Friday released a statement, confirming the changes in the festival's dates.

"#IIFA2020 postponed... With due regard to the growing concerns around the spread of the COVID-19 virus and keeping the health and safety of IIFA's fans and the general community at large, after consulting the Madhya Pradesh government, the IIFA management, and stakeholders from the film industry it has been decided to postpone to a later date the much-awaited IIFA Weekend and Awards 2020 celebrations which were originally scheduled at the end of March 2020," it read.

Now, a "fresh date and plans for hosting IIFA in Madhya Pradesh will be announced at the earliest," it added.

Iranian carrier to bring blood samples of 300 stranded Indians

Iranian carrier Mahan Air will bring blood samples of 300 Indians stranded in the coronavirus-hit country and while returning, fly back Iranian nationals in India. The ferry flight cleared by aviation regulator DGCA will land within 24 hours in Delhi, reports the news agency IANS.

Once the flight lands, samples of Indians would be tested for coronavirus and only if found negative, the stranded passengers would be brought from the middle-eastern country. There are about 2,000 Indians mostly from Kargil area of Kashmir stranded there. They had gone to visit a religious shrine in Iran but got stuck as regular commercial flights were suspended between the two countries following the spread of the virus.

India among 25 most-affect countries

As total number of confirmed cases hover around 98,000 globally, more than 80 countries have reported confirmed cases so far. While China remains the worst-affected country with more than 80,000 cases of COVID-19, the number of cases is on the rise across many other countries. As of Friday afternoon, India has reported 31 cases and is among the top 25 most-affected countries with more than 30 cases.

Outside mainland China, maximum number of cases is recorded in South Korea (6,284), followed by Italy (3,858) and Iran (3,513). A total of 341 deaths have been reported so far outside China, taking the overall toll to 3,383 on Friday.

Community Transmission of COVID-19 Observed: Health Ministry

The Indian Health Ministry has confirmed that in addition to travel-related cases, some cases of community transmission—which involves groups of people from a particular area getting infected with the virus—have also been observed in the country. The observation indicates that the virus could be spreading silently without apparent symptoms.

Meanwhile, the government continues its preparation of a containment plan, which will include identifying isolation facilities to accommodate confirmed/suspected cases in every district, providing logistical support, and enhancing community awareness to arrest the spread of the virus.

Universal screening expanded to 30 airports

Tourists wearing a mask as part of preventive measures for the deadly coronavirus, at Colaba in Mumbai, Wednesday, March 04, 2020.
(SL Shanth Kumar / BCCL, Mumbai)
Irrespective of nationality, all international passengers are being screened for coronavirus infection across all major airports in the country. On Friday, ministry of health confirmed that adequate screening measures have been setup and nine more airports have been added to the existing 21, bringing the total to 30 airports. The government had made universal screening mandatory for all international passengers on Wednesday.

Health Ministry organises national-level training

A day-long national level training on COVID-19 has been organised by India's Ministry of Health and the WHO. The training session was inaugurated by Health Secretary Ms Preeti Sudan in Delhi on Friday. It is being attended by 280 health officials from all states, including representatives from hospitals of railways, defence, and paramilitary forces. The ministry also said that the event was virtually attended by 1000 nodes across the country.

March 06, 12:05 PM

Confirmed cases rise to 31 in India

As per the latest upadate by Sanjeeva Kumar, special secretary, Union health ministry, a resident of Uttam Nagar in Delhi, with travel history from Thailand and Malaysia, has been tested positive to COVID-19. The total number of positive cases in the country has now gone up to 31.

March 06, 11:45 AM

Asia-Pacific countries face a loss of more than $200 billion: S&P Global ratings

An analysis by the American financial services company S&P Global suggests that COVID-19 threatens to disrupt the economy across Asia-Pacific countries. The outbreak could wipe out as much as US$211 billion from Asia-Pacific incomes and could slow the GDP growth to 4% in 2020, says the report. The the company has also cut the GDP growth rate projection for India from 6.5% to 5.7% for 2020.

March 06, 11:20 AM

Ministry of Health urges to avoid mass gathering

The ministry of health and family welfare issued an advisory on Thursday asking citizens to avoid mass gathering or postpone them. The advisory also urges states to take necessary actions and guide the organisers on precautions to be taken.

March 06, 10:45 AM

Paris Marathon Postponed

The Paris Marathon, which was scheduled for April 5, has been postponed to October 18 due to the growing coronavirus outbreak in France. The decision followed the cancellation of Sunday's Paris Half Marathon for the same reason; it has been postponed to September 6. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 death toll in France has risen to seven, while the total number of cases has jumped to 423.

As the coronavirus outbreak continues to affect the sporting world across the globe, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has made it clear that the upcoming IPL edition is "ON" and the board is making all efforts for the smooth conduct of the tournament which starts March 29.

The report further quoted a senior BCCI official as confirming that the board would replicate the precautionary guidelines recommended by the government and send them to all the stakeholders which includes players, franchises, airlines, team hotels, broadcast crews and everyone else involved in the running of the tournament.

Many of the sporting events across the world have been cancelled or postponed and the epidemic is also threatening the Tokyo Olympics slated to be played in July-August later this year.

Sensex drops by over 1250 points

Amid fears of further spread of corornavirus, the stock marked plunged with the benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange sensex crashing over 1,250 points on Friday's opening. The BSE is teading at around 37,300 and has registered around 3% drop. The plunge wiped out more than five lakh crores of investor wealth in seconds after the markets opened.

No New Cases in Hubei Province (Outside Wuhan) for First Time Since Outbreak

On Thursday, no new cases were reported in the entire Hubei Province outside of Wuhan—the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak—for the first time since China started publishing national infection data. All 126 new cases in the province were restricted to Wuhan.

However, Hubei did record 29 new deaths, of which 23 occurred in Wuhan. The province's total death toll has climbed to 2,931.

Tourist wear masks to protect themselves from COVID-19 during their visit to the tourist spots in Jaipur, Rajasthan.
(Bhagirath/BCCL, Jaipur)
Bhutan has confirmed its first case of novel coronavirus—a 76-year-old man from the United States. The patient arrived in Bhutan on March 2, after having visited Guwahati in Assam, India.

He was traveling with his partner, aged 59, and 10 other passengers, of which eight are Indian nationals. All 12 have since been quarantined, with the Bhutan government working closely with the Indian government. The man's partner, along with his driver and the guide, were the ones to come in close contact with him, but all three remain asymptomatic for now.