As the cases of the coronavirus continued to swell with over 1,19,400 confirmed cases reported globally so far out of which over 4,300 people have succumbed to the virus, the World Health Organisation said that it was categorising the outbreak of the novel coronavirus as a pandemic.
“Pandemic means every person on the Earth is prone to COVID-19”
The number of coronavirus cases in the country crossed 60 on Wednesday, with the Union heath ministry confirming at least 10 new cases amid new restrictions to control the spread of the virus.
It its second review meeting held under the chairmanship of Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, a group of ministers decided to suspended all tourist visas till 15 April in a bid to contain spread of novel coronavirus, according to an official statement.
The suspension will come into effect from 1200 GMT on March 13 at the port of departure.
The govt also mandated 14-day quarantine for all incoming travellers, including Indian nationals, arriving from or having visited China, Italy, Iran, Republic of Korea, France, Spain and Germany after 15 February.
Visa-free travel facility granted to OCI card holders is also kept in abeyance till 15 April, said a statement. Any foreign national who intends to travel to India for compelling reason may contact the nearest Indian Mission, the release added.
Earlier in the day, after chairing its first meeting, the GoM had expressed satisfaction with the measures taken by states and Union territories to combat the disease and had advised the health ministry to invoke provisions of Section 2 of Epidemic Disease Act, 1897, so that all advisories being issued from time to time by the ministry or states were made enforceable.
Among the fresh cases, eight were from Kerala and one each from Delhi and Rajasthan since Tuesday, the Union health ministry said and gave state-wise breakup which included five (Delhi), nine (Uttar Pradesh), four (Karnataka) and two in Ladakh.
Rajasthan, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab have reported one case each, the ministry said, adding Kerala has till now reported 17 cases, including the three patients who were discharged last month following recovery. The 60 confirmed cases includes 16 Italians tourists, the ministry said.
While the Union ministry maintained that there are two confirmed cases of coronavirus in Maharashtra, the state health officials put the number to eight. Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, meanwhile, said that the total number of cases in the state stood at 10, with eight confirmed cases in Pune and two in Mumbai.
The samples of the two new cases from Maharashtra will be sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) Pune for confirmation, news agency PTI quoted Suresh Kakani, Additional Municipal Commissioner of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) as saying.
The two persons, who are the first coronavirus positive cases from Mumbai, had come in close contact with two Pune residents who had returned from Dubai recently and tested positive for coronavirus.
Late in the evening, health officials announced that a man with a travel history to the US had tested positive in Nagpur.
Two employees working with IT companies Dell and Mindtree have been tested positive for coronavirus, according to company statements. However, their locations were not disclosed. The Dell employee had returned from the US, including a visit to Texas while the Mindtree employee also had a travel history abroad, the two companies said in separate statements.
Meanwhile, the health ministers of Telangana and Tamil Nadu announced that the patients who had tested positive from the state have recovered. The condition of the wife of the Italian tourist who had tested positive in Rajasthan is also improving, PTI quoted officials as saying.
