In what could be the most decisive and crucial action against the spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19) in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a nation-wide lockdown, a move that health experts say will help in flattening the curve.
This means that once the people-to-people contact is reduced the chances of the virus spreading are also reduced. The next three weeks will be crucial for the country in its fight against the Covid-19 outbreak which has disrupted normal life as we knew it.
But even as we go into lockdown there is some definite good news from the war-front. A total of 41 people who were tested positive for the virus have recovered and have been discharged from hospitals.
As per the figures of the Union Health Ministry, there are 41 cases who have recovered, while independent, state-wise data showed the numbers at 48. With 11 cases each of recovery, Haryana, and UP have topped the list, followed by Maharashtra at 8. However, the Health Ministry figures showed ‘0’ recoveries in Maharashtra.
At 112, the state has also the highest number of positive cases in the country followed by Kerala where 109 people have been confirmed. Maharashtra has so far recorded three deaths while there are no fatalities in Kerala where four people have recovered.
India spent day 1 of the 21 days lockdown scrambling for groceries, vegetables and milk even as the government issued several assurances that essential services and commodities will not be hampered by the lockdown imposed to curb the spread of deadly novel coronavirus.
On Wednesday, India registered 101 new cases of novel coronavirus despite a nationwide lockdown. Total number of deaths due to Covid-19 has reached 12 in India.
Globally, the world tally of positive coronavirus cases has reached at least 427,940 in 181 countries, with 19,246 dead.
In India, the central and state governments held a series of meetings with e-commerce websites, retail chains, vendors and other stakeholders to ensure a seamless supply of essential goods across the nation during the 21-day lockdown period.
While the streets across India bore a deserted look, cops across states ended up booking umpteen number of people for violating norms of lockdown. People were booked for venturing out for no emergency, opening businesses and home quarantine violations.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed his constituents in Varanasi via video conferencing. During the address, he urged people not to discriminate against frontline workers, including healthcare workers and cops. His statement came as several doctors and policemen reported evictions by landlords after being accused of being coronavirus carriers. The PM said that doctors must be treated like Gods during the current situation as they are helping us fight novel coronavirus pandemic.
A report suggests that the central government is set to announce a fiscal package for the 100 million poors and businesses hit by the shutdown amid the clamour for financial assistance by states.
India has evacuated 277 Indians from Iran. The evacuees have been kept at an army facility in Jodhpur.
Here is your capsule on latest developments on coronavirus outbreak in India:
Death toll reaches 12
India on Wednesday registered three deaths due to novel coronavirus. An 85-year-old woman who had been diagnosed with coronavirus died on Wednesday. It was the second COVID-19 death in the state.
“One coronavirus positive patient, female, 85 years, died in Ahmedabad today. She had traveled abroad, and after developing symptoms of COVID-19, she was admitted at civil hospital on March 22,” the government said in a tweet.
“She was suffering from many complications,” it added. On March 22, a 67-year-old coronavirus patient had died in Surat.
In another case, a 65-year-old woman succumbed to coronavirus at a government hospital in Indore, becoming the first case of COVID-19 death in Madhya Pradesh. The woman, who had no history of travelling abroad in recent times, originally hailed from neighbouring Ujjain and was undergoing treatment at the government-run M Y Hospital in Indore.
Tamil Nadu also registered its first case of Covid-19 death on Wednesday. A 54-year-old man infected with the coronavirus died at a hospital in Madurai in the early hours of Wednesday. The man had a medical history of prolonged illness with uncontrolled diabetes.
The Union health ministry clarified that the second confirmatory test of a Delhi patient who died on Tuesday, came negative. Therefore, the death was not included in the updated toll, it said. The death was shown against coronavirus in Tuesday’s tally. The total death of coronavirus in India now stands at 12.
As per the latest numbers available at the time of filing this report, India registered at least 93 new cases of novel coronavirus on Wednesday, mcuh higher than the previous day’s tally of 52. New cases have been reported from Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala, Delhi and Telangana
As per the Health Ministry, India saw 52 new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday. At 99, India had seen the highest surge in infections on Monday.
Goa reported its first three confirmed Covid-19 cases late Wednesday. Three persons, all with travel history abroad, tested positive for coronavirus in Goa on Wednesday, health department officials said, as the tourist haven joined the states which have reported Covid-19 cases.
In Madhya Pradesh, a total of 20 cases have been reported so far — six in Jabalpur, two in Bhopal, nine in Indore and one each in Gwalior, Shivpuri and Ujjain. One person had died of the novel coronavirus in the state.
Uttar Pradesh has a total of 38 positive cases, including a foreign national. A 33-year-old resident of Pilibhit, meanwhile, tested positive for coronavirus on Wednesday. Lucknow’s King George’s Medical University said the patient has no travel history and is a confirmed case of contact transmission,
Three new coronavirus positive cases have been reported in Gujarat. The total number of confirmed cases in Gujarat now stands at 39.
The Maharashtra count has climbed to 128 with 17 fresh cases reported on Wednesday. A 65-year-old coronavirus patient had died in Mumbai on Tuesday, taking the death toll due to Covid-19 to three in the metropolis. The second-highest number of coronavirus infections have been reported by Kerala (109).
India will go on a 21-day nationwide lockdown from today to fight the coronavirus pandemic, PM Modi announced via a televised address on Tuesday night. The national lockdown comes as India reported more than 50 new cases of Covid-19, taking the latest total of patients to 557.
Covid-19 has claimed 11 lives in the country with authorities reporting one death each in Delhi–the second in the national capital–and Maharashtra on Tuesday and over 500 persons being afflicted by the viral infection. Fears are also mounting that more could be hit as the global coronavirus toll inches towards 17,000.
PM ANNOUNCES NATIONAL LOCKDOWN
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced a complete lockdown of the entire country for 21 days in an unprecedented drastic measure to try halt the spread of coronavirus shortly after which the Centre said all road, rail and air services will remain suspended during this period.
In his second address to the nation in less than a week on the growing concerns over Covid-19, Modi said the lockdown will be in force from Tuesday midnight, as he announced a Central allocation of Rs 15,000 crore to strengthen the health infrastructure to tackle the disease.
