Coronavirus: 16 Italians test positive in India, all international flights to be screened

Coronavirus in India
Italian tourists fill up forms next to medical staff members at an Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) quarantine facility in Chhawla on the outskirts of New Delhi, India, in this handout picture obtained March 4, 2020. Photo: Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP)/Handout via REUTERS

New Delhi: Adding to the panic over the spread of COVID-19, 16 Italian citizens in India have tested positive for the virus on Wednesday. Their Indian driver was also tested positive taking the total number of infections reported from India to 29.

Meanwhile, e-commerce payment system Paytm said an employee in Gurgaon has tested positive for the coronavirus. A Health Ministry official also confirmed this coronavirus case.

In a statement, the company said the infected employee had recently returned from a vacation in Italy, one of the worst-hit countries from coronavirus and advised its employees to work from home for the next couple of days.

Seventeen Indians abroad have been infected, 16 from a cruise ship in Japan "being treated at onshore medical facilities" and one from the United Arab Emirates, the Ministry of External Affairs said.

Giving a break-up of the cases in the country, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said one patient is from Delhi, six more, his relatives, are from Agra, one is from Telangana and there are 16 Italians as well as their Indian driver in Rajasthan.

The number of reported infections is currently 29, including three earlier patients in Kerala who have been discharged. The three patients from Thrissur, Alappuzha and Kasaragod districts of Kerala were discharged from hospitals last month following recovery.

Globally the deadly virus has infected over 89,000 people in 78 countries.

The government has stepped up its efforts to detect and check the infection which has killed over 3,100 people worldwide.

The minister said the government has adopted a cluster approach, as part of which health authorities will check and sensitise every household within a three kilometre radius of the house of the infected person.

The government also intends to set up a laboratory in Iran so Indians there can be tested for possible exposure to the virus before being brought back, he said. An estimated 1,200 Indians, mostly students and pilgrims, are in Iran.

Flight crew under observation

The Air India on Tuesday confirmed that a passenger who flew on a Vienna-Delhi flight on February 25 has tested positive for coronavirus. There were 108 passengers and 10 crew members on board.

"This is for the attention of passengers who flew on AI154 Vienna-Delhi of 25th Feb '20. One of the passengers has tested positive for #coronavirus. Please follow the protocol notified by the Ministry of Health regarding Corona Virus," Air India tweeted.

Hotel staff on self-quarantine

Hyatt Regency, Delhi, has asked its staff, who were present at one of its restaurants where an individual tested positive for coronavirus dined on February 28, to go on self-quarantine for 14 days.

Coronavirus in India
Visitors wear protective masks in wake of the deadly novel coronavirus, at Government Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad, Tuesday. Photo: PTI

The hotel said it has also enacted elevated precautionary operational protocols at the property as advised by the government.

Holi celebrations affected

With Holi less than a week away on March 10, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president J P Nadda and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said they would not celebrate the festival of colours or hold any Holi Milan gathering. President Ram Nath Kovind's office also said Rashtrapati Bhavan will not hold any Holi gathering.

"Experts across the world have advised to reduce mass gatherings to avoid the spread of COVID19 Novel Coronavirus. Hence this year, I have decided not to participate in any 'Holi milan' programme," the prime minister tweeted.

International passengers to be screened

All international passengers will henceforth be screened at airports, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said at a press conference. Earlier, travellers from only 12 countries were screened at airports for the disease that has claimed over 3,000 lives and infected more than 90,000 worldwide.

Union minister Prakash Javadekar said over six lakh people had been screened for coronavirus symptoms in 21 airports.

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Briefing reporters, the Information and Broadcasting minister said more than 10 lakh people entering India from the open borders with Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar have also been screened.

New labs

While only the virology institute based in Pune is fit for conducting coronavirus tests, the government has now set up 15 more labs and is in the process of establishing 19 additional centres, Javadekar said.

"The government is proactively engaged in dealing with coronavirus. The prime minister is monitoring the situation daily," he said.

States equip themselves

Several state governments, including in Rajasthan and Delhi, screened visitors and others for the disease in hotels and guesthouses.

Coronavirus scare: 6 confirmed cases in India, PM Modi says no need to panic
Maldivian citizens who were evacuated along with 323 Indian nationals from the Chinese city of Wuhan.

With 16 Italian tourists, who came to Rajasthan by road from Delhi, testing positive, the desert state swung into action to contain the infection.

He said Italy has the third largest number of coronavirus cases in the world (more than 2,500) and the tourists should have been screened earlier.

A 69-year-old man was the first one in the group to test positive for the disease. Subsequently, his wife, too, tested positive at Jaipur's Sawai Man Singh Hospital, where the couple is now admitted.

The other 14 members of the group and their Indian driver have been quarantined at the ITBP camp in Chhawla.

In Delhi, Kejriwal said efforts are on to check and screen 88 people who came in contact with the Delhi man who tested positive for coronavirus.

Vardhan said the 45-year-old man from Mayur Vihar and six of his relatives from Agra whom he recently visited are being treated at the Safdarjung hospital.

Kejriwal said a taskforce headed by him has been formed to tackle the situation emerging from the coronavirus infection.

"We are concerned about situation but no need to panic," he said.

A coronavirus testing lab will be set up at the Lady Hardinge Hospital and also at the LNJP Hospital if necessary, Kejriwal said.

Kerala steps up vigil

With fresh novel coronavirus cases being reported in the country, the Kerala government on Tuesday decided to step up vigil especially at airports, bus depots and railway stations.

The state government has decided to be more vigilant, with the Centre issuing instructions to screen passengers coming from 12 countries, Health Minister K K Shailaja told reporters here tonight.

As of Tuesday, 23 people are in isolation wards in hospitals and 388 under home quarantine in Kerala.

Shortage of masks

As the coronavirus came perilously close to home and dos and don'ts about the disease were circulated, some advocated that the Indian way of greeting, the Namaste, was the way to go. Many people went into panic mode and started stocking up on hand sanitisers and masks.

Many shops, including in the national capital, said stocks of both had run out.

Coronavirus scare: 6 confirmed cases in India, PM Modi says no need to panic
Medics outside an isolation ward of coronavirus at Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad. PTI

However, Kejriwal said there is no shortage of masks.

In Rajasthan, too, purchase orders have been given for 50,000 personal protective equipment kits and five lakh each of N95 and triple layer masks to deal with the problem, Rajasthan minister Sharma said.

Many schools in the National Capital Region said they were fumigating and sanitising their premises. Three schools in Delhi and its adjoining suburbs announced holidays for students and staff as a precautionary measure to prevent spread of the disease while two schools advanced their spring break and others sent out advisories to parents.

Export restrictions

The government on Tuesday put export restrictions on 26 pharma ingredients and medicines, including paracetamol, vitamin B1 and B12.

With this, export of these active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and formulations requires licence from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), an arm of the commerce ministry.

Earlier, there were no restrictions on outbound shipments of these products.

APIs are a raw material for pharmaceuticals.

The announcement assumes significance on account of concerns over further spread of deadly coronavirus. Although India is heavily import dependent for APIs from China, it exports a limited quantity of pharma ingredients.

(With inputs from PTI.)

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