Coronavirus: Two more confirmed cases in Punjab; number rises to 33 in India

Punjab has reported two fresh cases of coronavirus, taking the total number of cases in India to 33. Both the patients, who came back from Italy last week, have been admitted to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital in Amritsar.

India has reported a total of 33 cases so far and around 29,607 people have been kept under observation at the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) netwok for novel coronavirus till March 5. Around 6,49, 452 passengers were screened for COVID-19 at 30 Indian airports as of March 6.

In wake of the rising coronavirus cases in India, Union Health Minister Harshwardhan will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to apprise him of the situation today. Modi will also speak about the coronavirus challenges at the Jan Aushadhi Diwas interaction.  

The Union Health Minister told Parliament this week that the government was taking all necessary steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19. "The scale and extent of our interventions has increased in alignment with the evolving situation of COVID-19 across the world and India in particular," he added.

Jammu and Kashmir has also reported two suspect cases of COVID-19. Principal Secretary of Planning, Jammu and Kashmir, took to his Twitter account to declare that all primary schools in Jammu and Sambha district will be closed till March 31.

The Health Minister also held a review meeting on Friday to evaluate the preparedness in managing novel coronavirus outbreak and also stressed on the importance of states keeping quarantine facilities, isolation wards and testing labs ready. He also sought action against all those charging higher prices for face masks amid the coronavirus scare.

Around 100,000 cases have been reported worldwide as of March 7 whereas the coronavirus death toll in China has breached the 3,000 mark. Countries such as Bhutan, Serbia, Cameroon and South Africa have also reported first cases of the novel coronavirus. USA has reported at least 299 cases of COVID-19 and 14 people have also succumbed to the deadly virus. In Italy, the number of coronavirus positive xases reached 4,636 and the death toll is 197. Talking of iran, total 4,747 COVID-19 cases have been reported whereas 124 people have died.  

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