Coronavirus: Three more positive cases; India's total count stands at 34

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, March 7

The central government confirmed three more positive cases on Saturday, with two of them from Ladakh.

Health Ministry in a statement said that the two people who tested positive in Ladakh had travelled to Iran. The third case was from Tamil Nadu with travel history to Oman.

“All the cases are stable. So far as the two American nationals are concerned, who were found positive in Bhutan with travel history of various places in India, more than 150 contacts have been put under integrated disease surveillance network surveillance,” the ministry said.

This takes the total coronavirus cases in the country to 34. 

Meanwhile, preliminary tests showed that there were two suspected cases of coronavirus in Amritsar.  The two men, both from Hoshiarpur, had taken a flight from Delhi to Amritsar, prompting the state’s machinery to track down other passengers and the crew of the flight.

If confirmed by Pune’s National Institute of Virology, these cases would be the first ones from Punjab.

Meanwhile, the fear of the spread of the virus has prompted authorities to announce that primary schools in Jammu, Srinagar and Samba districts will remain closed till March 31. The action came after two suspected cases were undergoing treatment at a hospital in Jammu. The development also prompted authorities to suspend biometric marking of attendance in the union territory temporarily.

Indigo waives rescheduling fee

Meanwhile, budget airlines Indigo has announced that it would not charge a fee for any rescheduling of domestic and international flights booked between March 12 and 31.

It also said that it would charge no fee for any fresh bookings made between those dates.

The airlines made it clear though that the announcement applies only to rescheduling, not cancelling, and applies to both domestic and international flights.   

"We understand that some passengers are concerned about committing to travel, given the current coronavirus issue. To take this anxiety away and make their travel hassle-free, we are waiving our normal change fee on all travel during the next two weeks and for all new bookings made in that period," IndiGo Chief Commercial Officer William Boulter said.

He also said that whilst the coronavirus is a very serious challenge for us all, "we believe that measures such as this would help alleviate its effect on India's travel".

A passenger would have to pay the fare difference in case of rescheduling the journey to a later date.

Also, the customer would have to intimate the airline three days in advance for rescheduling of the journey, the release said.

IndiGo, the country's largest domestic carrier, operates more than 1,500 daily flights. With agencies

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