Virus cases rise to 84; 2 dead, 10 discharged so far
Against the backdrop of increasing coronavirus cases that reached 84 and a couple of resultant deaths, the Centre on Saturday decided to treat the viral infection as a notified disaster for the purpose of providing assistance under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).
However, it did a flip-flop on the issue with the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) first announcing a payment of Rs 4 lakh as ex-gratia to the family of a person who loses life due to coronavirus or is involved in relief operations or associated in response activities, only to come up with a “partially modified” notification later with no provision at all for any monetary compensation to individuals.
“Grants earmarked under the State Disaster Response Fund can be utilised to procure essential equipment and take measures to quarantine people in order to combat the coronavirus outbreak,” said the two-page modified directive to all States, specifying list of items eligible for SDRF and norms of assistance. The total number of 84 confirmed cases includes 17 foreigners — 16 Italian tourists and a Canadian with two deaths from Karnataka and Delhi having been reported.
A 71-year-old man who had returned from Saudi Arabia and was suspected to have coronavirus infection died during treatment in Maharashtra’s Buldhana district on Saturday afternoon. The Government is waiting for his lab reports to confirm the death due to the virus infection. He was suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure.
Taking no chance, the Lok Sabha Secretariat suspended issuing public gallery passes and entry for show around in Parliament while the Padma Award ceremony, scheduled to be held on April 3 at Rashtrapati Bhavan, has been postponed. The next date and time will be announced in due course, said the Government.
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter to share the Health Ministry’s guidelines on home quarantine, a medical officer was placed under suspension for allegedly refusing surveillance duty to monitor suspected coronavirus cases placed under home quarantine in Jammu & Kashmir’s Poonch district. But there are also cases of COVID19-affected patients being discharged after their treatment and recovery. In all, 10 patients, three from Kerala earlier, have been treated and discharged so far.
Sajneeva Kumar, Special Secretary in the Union Health Ministry said on Saturday that seven persons who tested positive, including five from Uttar Pradesh and one each from Rajasthan and Delhi, have been discharged after treatment. As for cases, Delhi has reported six positive cases and Uttar Pradesh 11 so far. Karnataka has six coronavirus patients, Maharashtra 14 and Ladakh three while Jammu and Kashmir reported two cases. Besides, Rajasthan, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab have reported one case each.
Kerala has recorded 19 cases, including three patients who were discharged last month after they recovered from the contagious infection.
Similarly, two persons who had returned from Dubai have been found to test positive for coronavirus in Maharashtra’s Yavatmal. However, the Centre is yet to confirm.
The Special Secretary said all essential facilities like community surveillance, quarantine, isolation wards, adequate PPEs, trained manpower, rapid response teams are being strengthened further in all states and UTs while evacuation process of citizens in other countries is going on.
He informed that a Mahan Air flight bringing back Indian passengers from Iran will land in Mumbai on Saturday midnight. A special Air India flight is also being sent to Milan in Italy on Saturday to bring back Indian students.
With rise in cases, more and more States came forward to intensify precautionary measures to contain the virus’ spread. For instance, if West Bengal sealed its border with Bhutan and closed all its educational institutions till March 31, Himachal Pradesh on Saturday announced closure of all educational institutions and cinema halls till March 31. Kerala and Haryana governments on Saturday imposed restrictions on visitors entry at malls, gyms and beaches and warned people not to venture out of their homes unless necessary. Goa joined the bandwagon in shutting down public places like shopping malls, casinos and pubs till further orders.
Similarly, a day after closure of all educational institutions in the state till March 31, the Punjab government on Saturday ordered a shut down of cinema halls and banned public gatherings including cultural events till further notice to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Aligarh Muslims University suspended all classes, including sessional tests, till March 22 while the Infosys in Bengaluru evacuated one of its satellite office buildings following reports of its employee coming in contact with a suspected coronavirus patient.
