Chennai / New Delhi, Mar 16: India witnessed a slight increase in its coronavirus cases today, with Odisha reporting first confirmed case after a researcher returning from Italy tested positive for COVID-19.
According to reports, 116 persons were affected by coronavirus in India so far. The 33-year-old man is being treated at Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar.
‘His condition is stable and he is not showing any other complications,’ State government’s chief spokesperson on coronavirus cases Subroto Bagchi told reporters. The patient reached Delhi from Italy on 6 March and travelled to Bhubaneswar by train on 12 March. He consulted a doctor on March 13, complaining of fever and headache, he said.
‘The man then went to Capital Hospital on 14 March where he was admitted to the isolation ward. His blood and swab samples were sent for medical examination and tests confirmed he is infected by novel coronavirus,’ Bagchi said. As the man travelled by train from Delhi to Bhubaneswar, the state government launched a ‘contact tracing exercise’, Bagchi, also the chairman of Odisha Skill Development Authority, said.
Efforts are on to trace all the people who are suspected to have come in contact with him, the official said.
His family members have been quarantined and kept under observation. Data of all those people who travelled with the researcher on the train is being collected so that they can be tracked and quarantined too, Bagchi added.
Meanwhile, an Air India flight with 53 Indians evacuated from coronavirus-hit Iran landed in New Delhi today and the passengers were flown to Jaisalmer where they have been quarantined at the Army Wellness Centre.
This is the fourth batch of Indians to be evacuated from Iran, taking the total number of people brought back from the coronavirus-hit country to 389.
On Sunday, over 230 Indians were brought back from Iran and quarantined at the Indian Army Wellness Centre in Jaisalmer.
‘Fourth batch of 53 Indians – 52 students and a teacher – has arrived from Tehran and Shiraz, Iran. With this, a total of 389 Indians have returned to India from Iran. Thank the efforts of the team @India_in_Iran and Iranian authorities,’ External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar tweeted.
The Indians came in a Mahan Air flight that landed at the Delhi airport at around 3 am, officials said, adding, that they were later taken to Jaisalmer in an Air India flight and quarantined.
Defence spokesperson Col Sombit Ghosh said, ‘Preliminary screening of the persons was undertaken at the airport upon arrival. Thereafter, they were moved to the Army Wellness Centre at Jaisalmer.’
The first batch of 58 Indian pilgrims were brought back from Iran last Tuesday and the second group of 44 Indian pilgrim arrived from there on Friday.
Iran is one of the worst-affected countries by the coronavirus outbreak and the government has been working to bring back Indians stranded there. Over 700 people have died from the disease in Iran and nearly 14,000 cases have been detected.
Jaishankar had told Rajya Sabha last week that the government was focusing on evacuating Indians stranded in Iran and Italy as these countries are facing an ‘extreme situation’.
Meanwhile, in Tamilnadu, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami today chaired a high-level meet and discussed in detail various steps being taken to prevent the spread of the epidemic in the State.
MLAs and officials at the Secretariat-Assembly complex were today screened for COVID-19, while Health Minister C Vijayabaskar, who inspected facilities at airport, said that a Kanchipuram-based man, who was tested positive for coronavirus and has completely recovered from it, would be discharged today.
Also, after the Tamilnadu government on Sunday directed closure of all kindergarten and primary schools, theatres and malls in border taluks till 31 March as it stepped up preventive measures against coronavirus, border areas of Tamilnadu are under scanner today.
Chief Minister Palaniswami issued orders for closure of cinema halls and malls where people gather in large numbers till the month end in taluks in 16 districts bordering neighbouring Kerala and Karnataka, where the number of COVID-19 cases is on the rise, an official release said.