The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in India has crossed the 580-mark. With another patient passing away in Tamil Nadu, India has now reported 11 Covid-19 deaths.
New Delhi, March 25:
India goes under complete lockdown for 21 days to combat the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, the total number of Covid-19 patients in the country crossed the 570-mark on Wednesday as death toll climbed to 11.
Around 20 new cases of novel coronavirus have been reported from across the country on Wednesday morning, taking India’s tally to 581. New cases have been reported from Mizoram, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. Follow LIVE UPDATES on coronavirus outbreak
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.
In Madhya Pradesh, five people tested positive for Covid-19 in Indore on Wednesday morning. Of the five, four are residents of Indore and one of Ujjain. With these new cases, the Maharashtra tally now stands at 14.
Uttar Pradesh has a total of 35 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 38.
The Maharashtra count has climed to 112 with five 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 state, with 107 cases, has so far accounted for the highest number of coronavirus infections followed by Kerala (105).
After Manipur, a Mizoram resident has now tested positive for Covid-19. The patient is now admitted at Zoram Medical College.
North East saw its first case on Tuesday after a 23-year-old woman from Manipur tested positive for novel coronavirus.Karnataka has recorded 41 cases of coronavirus patients and Telangana has seen 39 patients. Cases in Rajasthan have increased to 32, including two foreigners.
Cases in Delhi stand at 29, including one foreigner.
In Haryana, there are 30 cases, including 14 foreigners, while Punjab has reported 29 cases. Ladakh has 13 cases, while Tamil Nadu has reported 18 cases, including two foreigners.
West Bengal has reported nine cases while Andhra Pradesh has seven patients. Chandigarh has reported six cases.
With three more cases on Tuesday, Jammu and Kashmir tally has climbed to seven while five cases have been recorded in Uttarakhand.
There are two cases each in Himachal Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha. Puducherry, Manipur and Chhattisgarh have reported a case each.
DEATH TOLL RISES TO 11
The death toll due to the Covid-19 has climbed to 11 in the country with Tamil Nadu reporting its first casualty on Wednesday. A 54-year-old man infected with coronavirus died at a hospital in Chennai in the early hours of Wednesday — the first death recorded in Tamil Nadu due to Covid-19.
The Union Health Ministry clarified that the second death in Delhi that was reported on Tuesday has tested negative for coronavirus. Forty people have been cured/discharged/migrated, according to the official data.
COMPLETE LOCKDOWN IN INDIA FOR 21 DAYS
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced a complete lockdown of the entire country for 21 days to try halt the spread of coronavirus.
In his second address to the nation in less than a week on the growing concerns over Covid-19, PM 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.
Fears over the spread of the disease have already led the governments in the states and union territories to clamp a lockdown till March 31the date till which road, rail and air services have been suspended. However, freight movement will continue to carry essential commodities across the country, officials said.
WHAT DO LOCKDOWN GUIDELINES SAY?
According to 6-page guidelines released by the Ministry of Home Affairs, fair price shops and those dealing with food, groceries, fruits, vegetables, dairy, meat, fish and animal fodder will remain open. The guidelines also stipulated that making false claim to get any relief during lockdown may result in imprisonment up to two years.
“To save India, to save every Indian, there will be a complete ban on people from stepping outside their houses from 12 midnight today,” he said, and showed a poster saying corona means ‘Koi Road Par Na Nikle’ (No one should come out on roads).
“Lockdown is being imposed on every state, union territory, district, village, mohalla and street.
The lockdown will be like curfew’ and more stringent than the ‘janta curfew’, which was observed on Sunday where millions across the country stayed indoors.
MODI’s APPEAL: DON’T STEP OUT
Modi folded his hands a few times in an emotional gesture to emphasise his request to citizens to adhere to his call, saying it is applicable to everyone from the prime minister to a citizen in a village.
“If we don’t handle these 21 days well, then our country, your family will go backwards by 21 years,” he said, asserting that the tough measure is necessary for a decisive battle against the coronavirus outbreak. One step outside can make way for coronavirus into your house.
Acknowledging that the decision will have an economic cost, Modi said saving people’s lives is of the paramount interest to his government.
Addressing fears that there could be a shortage of essential commodities and medicines, the prime minister said there is absolutely no need to panic. Centre and states will work together to ensure availability of essential commodities, medicines…
Modi also urged people not to indulge in panic buying, saying that by converging around shops, they are risking the spread of Covid-19. The remarks come against the backdrop of people rushing to provision shops to make mass purchases.
ACTION AGAINST VIOLATORS
Authorities have also taken a serious view of several people continuing to venture out despite the lockdown considering that the coming days and weeks are going to be extremely critical to contain the spread of the disease.
Cases were booked against hundreds of people in different parts of the country including in Delhi for violating prohibitory orders. In Hyderabad, police said it had to resort to mild caning against the violators.
A top functionary of the central government called up some of the chief ministers and apprised them of the necessity of imposing the curfew if people continue to venture out of their homes.
The state governments and the union territory administrations have been advised to impose curfew wherever necessary as many people continue to go out of their homes despite the lockdown ordered to check the spread of the virus, a government official said.
Courtesy: India Today
