All international flyers to be screened as Covid count mounts to 29

Aditi Tandon

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Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 4

India today recorded a sudden surge in confirmed novel coronavirus cases with the official count reaching 29, including the three Kerala students who had previously tested positive and were later declared infection-free.

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• Screening at land ports, borders
• Delhi forms task force to combat Covid-19
• 88 linked to infected man to be screened

The new 26 positive cases include a Paytm employee working out of Gurugram who recently returned from a vacation in Italy, 16 Italian tourists who were visiting Jaipur and their Indian driver, one positive case from New Delhi and his six Agra-based family members and one positive case from Hyderabad.

He added that India had sent four scientists to Iran to set up a laboratory for pre-screening Indians before they could be evacuated back. As many as 92 people have died of the infection in Iran so far and hundreds of Indians in Iran are at a huge risk.

As panic gripped Delhi where one positive patient recently partied at a top hotel where several people were present, Vardhan met Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain, asking his help for active contact tracing and for setting up isolation and quarantine facilities in all Delhi government hospitals. People who have come in contact with the positive Delhi patient are now self reporting and going in for home isolation for 14 days.

To aid infection control, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today advised people against arranging and attending mass Holi gatherings.

Meanwhile, the Health Minister acknowledged the steadily building shortage of protective gear, including N 95 masks, in the markets and said people must use masks wisely and those indiscriminately hoarding masks would be proceeded against under outbreak protocol.

BJP president JP Nadda wrote to state party chiefs advising them not to mark Holi milans and Home Minister Amit Shah also said the same. With 25 positive cases and two suspected cases in Telangana seen in three days, Vardhan said contact tracing of patients was the main challenge.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that the Delhi patient and his infected kin were isolated at Safdarjung Hospital.

Infected Italian nationals have been lodged at different hospitals in the NCR.

The Health Minister also said the infected Italian tourists were in India since February 21, much before the country began screening passengers from Italy where the case load has been surging. Italy is the worst-affected nation outside of Asia.

Use masks wisely

Use masks wisely and only on doctor advice; masks alone won’t prevent infection, practising respiratory etiquette and frequent hand washing will.

1st suspected case in Guj

Ahmedabad: The first suspected case in Gujarat was reported from Ahmedabad on Wednesday. The 23-year-old woman has returned from Singapore. OC

17 Indian cases abroad

New Delhi: Seventeen Indians have been infected abroad —16 from Japan and 1 from UAE. The govt has evacuated 766 from China, 119 from Japan. TNS

Paytm asks staffers to work from home

Paytm, in a statement on Wednesday, said it had asked all staffers to work from home for some days after an employee tested positive

What to do

• Wash hands frequently
• Cover mouth on sneezing
• Cough, sneeze into your elbow
• Clean hands with alcohol-based sanitiser or soap and water
• Throw used tissue into closed bins
• Stay home in case of flu-like signs, consult doctor
• Avoid large gatherings

What to shun

• Avoid contact if you have fever or cough
• Don’t spit in public
• Don’t touch animals or consume raw meat
• Avoid travel to farms or slaughter markets

Symptoms of disease

• Cough, difficulty in breathing, fever, respiratory stress
• Seek doctor’s help
• He will advise whether testing for virus is required