Worrying trend as COVID-19 cases in India neared 290
NEW DELHI : A woman in Pune and a man in West Bengal – both without any history of foreign travel – tested positive for coronavirus on Saturday, signalling a worrying trend as COVID-19 cases in India neared 290.
People braced for the nationwide “Janata Curfew” on Sunday from 7 am and 9 pm – billed as a day of voluntary social distancing and widely seen as a pilot for a broader lockdown that can be imposed if the spread continues unabated.
No passenger train will originate from any railway station in the country from midnight to 10 pm on March 22 while all suburban train services will be reduced to a bare minimum as well. Metro services, including in Delhi, will remain suspended for the day. Air carriers like GoAir, IndiGo and, Vistara have announced that they will be curtailing domestic operations
Most public transport – including trains and metros – will not run and all shops excluding pharmacies and grocery stores will be closed during the shutdown announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday.
Describing it as the need of the hour, Union Home Minister Amit Shah asked everyone in the country to support the step. In a series of tweets, Shah also asked all citizens to express gratitude to those who are working round the clock to keep the country safe and healthy amid the pandemic.
A 57-year-old man in West Bengal’s Dum Dum and a woman in her 40s in Maharashtra’s Pune were among those who tested positive for coronavirus on Saturday. Both have no history of travelling to a foreign country, health officials said.
The Indian Railways urged people to avoid travelling on trains, saying that at least 13 people, including eight who travelled on the AP Sampark Kranti on March 13, have tested positive for coronavirus. It added that a couple was taken off the Bengaluru-Delhi Rajdhani train on Saturday after co-passengers spotted a quarantine seal on the husband’s hand.
With 12 new cases in a single day, Maharashtra has the highest number of COVID-19 cases at 64, including three foreigners. State Health Minister Rajesh Tope made a fresh appeal to avoid public transport to contain the spread and warned of tougher measures, having already asked offices and shops to close.
Kerala also reported 12 new cases for the second consecutive day, taking the tally in the State to 49, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said, even as he ruled out the possibility of community transmission of the disease – when the source of the infection is not traceable.
Reiterating his call for widespread participation in “Janata Curfew”, PM Modi urged migrants to stay in their cities and not travel home during this period.
The Health Ministry website, last updated on Saturday afternoon, said the total number of coronavirus cases in India stood at 283, including four deaths. Punjab recorded 11 new cases, taking the state’s count to 14. Seven new coronavirus in Gujarat took the total to 14 while five new cases reported in Karnataka raised the number to 20.
Several states announced partial shutdowns and imposed restrictions on people’s movement and gatherings among a slew of precautionary measures to contain the pandemic.
The Uttar Pradesh government announced plans to cut down the celebrations for a Ram Navami fair in Ayodhya, banning the entry of outsiders and the customary holy dip in the river Sarayu. Over 10 lakh devotees were expected to attend the celebrations set to begin next Wednesday.
Uttar Pradesh Health Minister Jai Pratap Singh and 27 others, who had attended a party with Bollywood singer Kanika Kapoor days before she tested positive for coronavirus, were found to be negative for COVID-19 on Saturday. The singer has been charged for negligence.
In the state’s Noida, neighbouring Delhi, another man has tested positive for coronavirus taking the total to 5. The district administration has locked down his residential society which has thousands of residents, from 10 am Saturday till 7 am on Monday for sanitisation, the officials said.
(With Agency Inputs ).
