COVID-19 count reaches 39 in India

NEW DELHI: With five new cases of the novel coronavirus being reported from Kerala on Sunday, the total number of COVID-19 cases in India stands at 39.

The new coronavirus cases from the Pathanamthitta district of Kerala were confirmed by Kerala state Health Minister K.K. Shailaja, who said the family acted irresponsibly by not reporting to the authorities after arriving from Italy.

Consequently, the three patients including a 54-year-old man, his 53-year-old wife and their 24-year-old son, also infected two of their relatives, 65-year-old man and his 61-year-old wife.


"At the moment, we are more concerned of giving full medical care to the three and two of their relatives," said Shailaja.

As on Saturday, there were at least 34 cases of COVID-19 reported from India. The latest were from Ladakh and Tamil Nadu on Saturday, having travel history from Iran and Oman respectively.

On January 30, a medical student from Thrissur studying in Wuhan, China, became the first coronavirus positive patient in the country and soon two of her classmates also turned positive. All three of them have now recovered.

At present, there are at least 16 Italian nationals in India, who tested positive for the disease. Other cases in the country have been reported from Agra, New Delhi and Gurugram.

As many as 52 laboratories are now operational across the country for testing COVID-19 virus. An additional 57 laboratories have been provided with viral transport media and swabs for sample collection.

According to the Health Ministry, over seven lakh people from more than 7,000 flights have been screened at different airports.

In order to spread awareness, a special COVID-19 mobile phone caller tune has been launched by all telecom operators, playing basic infection prevention messages when a caller dials-out.