Coronavirus latest news: India recorded 63 new cases, highest on a single day on Friday, March 20 in the worst day to date in the fight against Coronavirus. The number of active cases has now jumped to 231. 22 patients have been cured or discharged and 4 have died. Central and state governments are fighting to stop community transmission as they are moving to close all the places where possible gathering might take place. PM Narendra Modi in his address to the nation on Thursday had called on the citizens to carry out a self-imposed Janta Curfew to bring a change in attitude towards the Covid-19 pandemic. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has ordered the closure of all shops, malls and other places that are prone to contagion with exceptions given to pharmacies and grocery stores. Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray also has called for similar measures and a virtual lockdown in Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur and Pimpri-Chinchwad has been called.
Indian Railways has notified that no passenger train will start from the station of origin from midnight to 10 pm on March 22 during the Janata Curfew. Airline companies as well have announced their reduced or complete disruption in their operations during the Janata Curfew. Indigo has said that it will be operational on only 60 per cent of its routes while Vistara and GoAir have also announced curtailment of their service to help the government in checking the spread of highly infectious Coronavirus.
Financial Express Online brings to you latest news and updates on Coronavirus cases in India, LIVE. Stay Tuned:
he Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has launched a toll-free helpline on coronavirus safeguards for students, officials said on Saturday. The facility is available on helpline number 1800 11 8004 from 8 am to 8 pm, initially up to March 31, they said. The board has postponed all exams till March 31 and evaluation work has also been suspended. – PTI
There is a significant fall in the number of travellers. We have been sanitizing the railway station 24*7 and have kept hand sanitizers in the premises. Train services will be suspended from tonight: Dhruv Kumar, Station Manager, Ranchi Railway Station (ANI)
West Bengal: Tourism industry badly affected in Siliguri, a major tourist destination due to Coronavirus Pandemic. A taxi operator says, “Tourists are not coming these days. Before Covid-19 outbreak, I used to get booking for 20-25 taxis daily which has come down to 2-3 now.” (ANI)
A case was registered against a couple in Maharashtra’s Jalgaon district after they allegedly failed to inform the authorities about their trip to Thailand, police said on Saturday. People with history of travel abroad have been advised to remain under mandatory quarantine due to possible exposure to coronavirus, irrespective of whether they show any symptoms of the infection. A survey team from the district administration on Friday tracked down the couple, who had failed to inform the authorities about their recent trip to Bangkok and Pattaya in Thailand, an official from Amalner police station said. – PTI
The State Election Commission of Arunachal Pradesh has decided to temporarily put on hold the municipal and panchayat elections in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, an official said on Saturday. The commission had announced that the elections would be held in April-May this year but the dates were not finalised. “Conducting of elections will entail a large number of public gatherings, campaigns and rallies at various locations in the state,” State Election Commissioner Hage Kojeen said. “It will be detrimental and harmful for the public health due to the possible spread of COVID-19,” he said. -PTI
Kerala: Migrant labourers are leaving Kozhikode due to Coronavirus. A migrant labourer says, “We are leaving due to the fear of virus”. There are total 40 positive cases in the state. (ANI)
We have launched a self-assessment interactive app on Coronavirus. This is the first in the country. We’re taking all precautions and discouraging gathering of even 5 people. We don’t want tourists coming to Goa till the situation settles: Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane (ANI)
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR): A total of 271 individuals have been confirmed positive among suspected cases and contacts of known positive cases. (ANI)
A new novel coronavirus case has been reported in Karnataka on Saturday, taking the total number of infections to 16 in the State. A 32-year old person from Gauribidanur in Chikkaballapura district, who has returned from Mecca has been confirmed for COVID-19 infection, Health Minister B Sriramulu tweeted. The person has been admitted in a designated isolated hospital for treatment, the Minister said and asked people not to fear or panic. – PTI
Two persons, including a woman, became the first fatalities of the coronavirus pandemic in Singapore, health ministry said on Saturday as the country announced a slew of measures to prevent the spread of the deadly disease that has infected 385 people in the island nation. Singapore on Friday confirmed 40 new COVID-19 cases, including 30 imported infections, taking the total number to 385 in the country. The two fatalities included a 75-year-old Singaporean woman and a 64-year-old Indonesian man who died on Saturday, the health ministry said. – PTI
Maharashtra: Less than usual traffic witnessed at Western Express Highway in Mumbai in wake of the government’s advise to avoid all non-essential travel as a measure to combat Coronavirus Pandemic. (ANI)
DMK Chief MK Stalin distributes kits of soap, hand sanitizer & face mask to media personnel and staff at the Assembly in Chennai. (ANI)
A 52-year-old man with travel history to Sri Lanka tested positive of coronavirus in Gujarat on Saturday, taking the number of such cases in the state to eight, officials said. The new patient is a resident Vadodara, they said. “A man with travel history to Sri Lanka, tested positive for coronavirus. He was part of a group that had recently travelled to Sri Lanka,” Vadodara collector Shalini Agarwal said. “Another member of the same group, a woman, had tested positive on Friday,” she said. This is the third positive case in Vadodara and eighth in Gujarat, Agarwal added. -PTI
Maharashtra: People walked, did physical exercise and played cricket at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Park in Mumbai today morning even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray have appealed to people to avoid gathering at public places. (ANI)
Maharashtra: Nagpur Municipal Corporation orders restricting vehicular movement in the areas of isolation centres and quarantine centres declared by the Corporation. (ANI)
Three more people in Punjab have tested positive for the new coronavirus, taking the total in the state to six, an official said on Saturday. “Three more people have tested positive in Mohali,” Deputy Commissioner Girish Dayalan said. Among the fresh cases is the sister of a 69-year-old Mohali woman who tested positive on Friday, he said. – PTI
The person tested positive in Noida stays in Supertech Capetown in Sector 74 and the district administration has announced a lockdown of the residential society, which has thousands of residents, from 10 am Saturday till 7 am on Monday for sanitisation, the officials said. “During this period nobody would be allowed to get in or go out of society except only in very essential cases. Everybody is requested to stay indoors,” District Magistrate B N Singh stated in an order. – PTI
National carrier Air India will send a 787 Dreamliner aircraft to Rome on Saturday afternoon to evacuate Indians stranded there amid the coronavirus crisis. The Centre issued a statement on Thursday that no international flights would be allowed to land in India from March 22 onward for a period of one week. An Air India official said the flight to Rome would take off from the Delhi airport around 2:30 pm. The flight will evacuate all Indians stranded in Rome and return to Delhi on Sunday morning, the official added. – PTI
A woman who recently returned from Scotland has tested positive for Coronavirus. She came here from Scotland via Mumbai. After developing cold & cough, she took a test. She has been admitted to an isolation ward: Nilimesh Das, Chairman, Howrah Municipal Corporation (ANI)
We appeal to all to practice social distancing to prevent the spread of Coronavirus. We have more than 250 beds for isolation and more than 7000 ordinary beds at hospitals in the state: Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope (ANI)
2 more people have been tested positive for COVID19 in Pune, taking the total tally of positive cases in Pune to 23. One positive case has travel history to Ireland and the other does not have any recent travel history: Naval K Ram, Dist Magistrate, Pune, Maharashtra (ANI)
A 42-year-old woman found positive for COVID19. She including her family members do not have recent travel history. The patient is critical and kept on a ventilator. Her reports have been sent to Central govt: Jitendra Oswal, Deputy Medical Director, Bharti Hospital (ANI)
Restrictions under Section 144 of CrPC has been imposed in in the district in view of the spread of coronavirus: Jagdish Chander Sharma, Superintendent of Police in Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunu(ANI)
Gautam Budh Nagar: One person tests positive for Coronavirus in Supertech Capetown Society located in sector 74. Gautam Budh Nagar DM BN Singh orders sealing of the society premises from today till March 23. Residents of the society ordered to remain at their residence. (ANI)
The number of positive cases has increased by 11 within a day. This includes 8 persons with travel history and 3 people got infected after being in contact with them. Positive cases of Coronavirus in Maharashtra rise to 63: Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope (ANI)
Karnataka Minister B Sriramulu: A 32-year-old man with travel history to Mecca has tested positive for Coronavirus. He has been placed under isolation and is receiving treatment. (ANI)
France on Friday reported 78 more deaths from the coronavirus over the last 24 hours, bringing the total death toll from the outbreak in the country to 450 people. Top French health official Jerome Salomon told reporters that 12,612 people were now confirmed by tests in France to have been infected with the coronavirus, while warning this was a “minimal figure” compared with the real number of those infected. He said that 5,226 people had been hospitalised with the virus, with 1,300 of them in intensive care. “Half of the patients in intensive care are under 60,” he said, warning that the epidemic can hit “young adults” too. The French from Tuesday were ordered to stay at home except for essential purposes, a lockdown set to last an initial two weeks, but expected to be extended in a bid to halt COVID-19. (AFP)
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has announced that Rs 1000 each will be provided to 15 lakh daily wage labourers and 20.23 lakh construction workers in the state to help them meet their daily needs in the wake of novel Coronavirus outbreak in Uttar Pradesh. As many as 23 people, including popular Bollywood singer Kanika Kapoor, have tested positive for novel coronavirus in the state. Out of the total cases, nine people have recovered. Adityanath said that the state has sufficient number of isolation wards to treat novel coronavirus patients. READ FULL REPORT HERE
Chloroquine, an old anti-malarial drug, is in the spotlight as a possible cure for Covid-19. Didier Raoult, a researcher who heads the IHU – Méditerranée Infection, a private research organisation in Marseille, France — as per The Connexion, a monthly journal — has claimed that a set of 24 patients, among the first to be infected in France, who were administered 600 micrograms of a chloroquine-based brand-drug saw speedier healing than in the normal course and a much shorter time when they remained contagious. Read Full Report
Maharashtra Government issues circular to restrict or lower the use of air-conditioners to a minimum in government offices, to curb the spread of Coronavirus. (ANI)
The UP police have booked singer Kanika Kapoor for negligence and committing acts that are likely to spread disease dangerous to life after she attended at least three gatherings in Lucknow, including a party where political leaders were present, and tested positive for the new coronavirus, an official said. Read full report here
Responding to the growing coronavirus crisis, the United States on Friday strengthened its emergency and relief measures to combat the toughest public health challenge in decades. More than 230 Americans had lost their lives by Friday evening due to the coronavirus and the number of confirmed cases jumped to over 18,000, an increase of over 10,000 in less than 50 hours. The Trump administration has declared a national emergency and pressed into service its armed forces, albeit in a limited way, to combat the coronavirus, which is now spreading like a wildfire from coast to coast. (PTI)
Turkey on Friday recorded five more deaths from the novel coronavirus, bringing the overall total to nine, as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged people not to go out for “non-essential reasons”. “We have lost five patients who are elderly and with a weak resistance,” Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter. Koca also said the number of cases has reached 670 after 311 out of 3,656 patients tested positive over the last 24 hours. (AFP)
An advocate files PIL in Delhi HC seeking immediate direction to Delhi Govt to provide face-masks & hand sanitizers to all prisoners and to spray disinfectants and quarantine the jail premises of Tihar Jail&other jails of the national capital. The petition will be heard on March 24. (ANI)
The United Arab Emirates on Friday reported the first two deaths from coronavirus in the country. Abu Dhabi has reported 140 infections so far, of whom 31 have recovered, but no deaths. “The Ministry of Health and Prevention has announced the first two deaths caused by the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, in the country,” the Emirates News Agency reported. One of the individuals was a 78-year old Arab national who had arrived in the country from Europe. (ANI)
Air India to mount a 787-Dreamliner to Rome today to evacuate students, other travellers or any Indians stranded there. The flight will return to Delhi tomorrow morning. (ANI)
Pakistan reported its third death from the coronavirus as total number of confirmed cases crossed 500 yesterday, Pakistani media report. (ANI)
US Defence Secretary Mark Esper on Friday held a telephonic conversation with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and praised India’s COVID-19 initiative for SAARC countries, the Pentagon said. The two leaders discussed the COVID-19 pandemic and underscored their commitment to close communication during this period in order to maintain momentum on initiatives that reinforce their comprehensive global partnership, the Pentagon said in a readout of the call. “During the call, the two leaders also discussed bilateral defense priorities, including the ongoing regional cooperation and initiatives to enhance military-to-military engagement and defense trade,” it said. Esper expressed his appreciation for India’s leadership in coordinating COVID-19 related relief efforts among South Asian countries and conveyed his intent to visit India at the earliest opportunity, the Pentagon said. – PTI
A staffer in the team of US Vice President Mike Pence has tested positive for the coronavirus, making him the first White House personnel to have been infected by the deadly disease that has so far claimed the lives of 230 people in the country. “This evening we were notified that a member of the office of the Vice President tested positive for the coronavirus,” Katie Miller, Press Secretary to Vice President, said in a statement. Neither President Donald Trump nor Vice President Pence had close contact with the individual, she said. (PTI)
China reported no domestically transmitted coronavirus cases for the third consecutive day even as seven more fatalities have been confirmed, taking the death toll in the country to 3255. On Friday, seven deaths and 36 new suspected cases were reported on the mainland, with all the deaths reported from virus epicentre Hubei Province and its capital Wuhan, it said. The overall confirmed cases on the mainland had reached 81,008 by the end of Friday, which included 3,255 who died, 6,013 patients still undergoing treatment, 71,740 patients who had been discharged after recovery, the NHC said. The commission said that 106 people were still suspected of being infected with the virus.
