Trump halts WHO funding

NEW DELHI, April 15: The Centre on Wednesday reacted cautiously to US President Donald Trump’s decision to cut funding to the World Health Organisation (WHO), with people familiar with developments saying the world community’s focus should remain on the Covid-19 pandemic.

During his daily briefing on the Covid-19 crisis, Trump announced the US would halt funding for the WHO for “severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the Coronavirus”.

The move was soon criticised by world leaders, and UN chief Antonio Guterres said this was “not the time to reduce the resources for the operations” of the WHO.

The Indian government was more circumspect in its response, with people familiar with developments insisting that the focus of global efforts should remain on overcoming the Covid-19 pandemic.

“At present, our efforts and attention are fully focused on dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. Once the world has addressed this crisis, we can revisit this question [of funding for the WHO],” one of the people cited above said on condition of anonymity.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while participating in a virtual summit of G20 leaders last month, had called for the reform of the WHO, which was based on the “last century’s models” and hadn’t adapted to deal with new challenges.

At his daily briefing, Trump, who has repeatedly criticised the WHO in recent weeks for its handling of the pandemic and for allegedly toeing China’s line, said: “Today I’m instructing my administration to halt funding of the World Health Organisation while a review is conducted to assess the World Health Organisation’s role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the Coronavirus.”

He noted that American taxpayers “provide between $400 million and $500 million” a year to the WHO, while China “contributes roughly $40 million a year and even less”. He added, “As the organisation’s leading sponsor, the US has a duty to insist on full accountability.”

Trump further said: “One of the most dangerous and costly decisions from the WHO was its disastrous decision to oppose travel restrictions from China and other nations. They were very much opposed to what we did. Fortunately, I was not convinced and suspended travel from China, saving untold numbers of lives.”

The US president is himself facing criticism for his handling of the Covid-19 crisis in his country, which has recorded more than 614,000 infections and more than 26,000 deaths.

German foreign minister Heiko Maas tweeted: “Blaming does not help. The virus knows no borders…One of the best investments is the @UN, especially the underfunded @WHO, to strengthen…the development and distribution of tests and vaccines.”

Microsoft founder Bill Gates tweeted: “Halting funding for the World Health Organization during a world health crisis is as dangerous as it sounds.”

India's Coronavirus cases rise to 11,933

NEW DELHI, April 15: In its evening update on the coronavirus pandemic on Wednesday, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said India's total number of cases rose to 11,933.

The total number of cases rose by 1,118 on Wednesday evening as against 1,463 cases on Tuesday evening.

The death toll rose by 39 to 392.

Maharashtra continues to be the most affected Indian state with 2,687 cases and 178 fatalities. Meanwhile, the state's health officials said an analysis of 2,330 of total 2,801 Covid-19 cases detected so far in worst-hit Maharashtra suggests age of 70% or 1,646 patients ranges between 21 and 50 years while 684 others are in their fifties.

After Maharashtra, Delhi and Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan too crosses the 1,000-mark as its case tally rose to 1,005. The state has recorded three deaths so far.

Madhya Pradesh is nearing the avoidable 1,000-mark with 257 more new cases reported on Wednesday, taking the state's tally to 987. Indore accounts for 123 of the new cases.

Maharashtra accounts for lion's share of the total number of deaths with 178 deaths, followed by Madhya Pradesh with 53 deaths. Delhi and Gujarat account for 30 deaths each.

Meanwhile, The Union Health Ministry has identified 170 districts as Covid-19 hotspots and 207 districts as potential hotspots, officials said on Wednesday, reiterating that there has been no community transmission of the disease in the country so far.

Coronavirus cases shot past the 500 mark in Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday reaching 503, as 20 new cases were reported.

The number of active cases on Wednesday evening rose by 925 to 10,197, as compared to 1,224 on Tuesday evening.

The number of recoveries increased by 154 to 1,343 on Wednesday evening as against 210 recoveries 24 hours ago.

India extends lockdown till May 3

NEW DELHI, April 14: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday appreciated the discipline showed by the people of the country in making the 21-day lockdown to check the spread of coronavirus a success as he announced its extension.

“In my discussions with the state governments, and various stakeholders, one thing was unanimous: That we should extend the lockdown. So, I announce today that the lockdown will be extended till May 3,” Modi said.

He also asked people to be alert and prevent the spread of the disease. “We will impose more stringent measures in the next week. Till April 20, we will evaluate how different states are dealing with the pandemic. States which will not let hotspots increase, they could be allowed to let some important activities resume, but with certain conditions,” Modi said.

“The fight is moving ahead with strength. I know the hardships you faced, you are fulfilling your duties and I respectfully bow to the people of India for their sacrifice,” Prime Minidster said in his address.

“People have saved the country while facing difficulties,” he added.

He also invoked Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar on his birth anniversary. “Our constitution talks about ‘We the People’. The spirit was displayed during this period,” he said.

It was PM Modi’s third televised address to the nation in less than a month. On March 19, Modi said he would seek the “coming few weeks” of Indian citizens, asked them to stay determined and patient in the fight against the global pandemic, senior citizens to remain indoors and called for a “people’s curfew” on March 22 to demonstrate their unity and resolve.

He then announced a three-week nationwide lockdown that halted commercial flights and train journeys,taken public transport off the streets, closed schools and colleges and shut industrial production.

India’s Covid-19 cases surge past 10,000, death toll at 339

NEW DELHI, April 14: India recorded 10,363 coronavirus cases and 339 deaths on Tuesday morning, as the infections doubled within a week across the country.

The Union health ministry data at 8am showed there were 1211 new cases and 31 deaths in the last 24 hours even as 1035 people were sent home after being cured of the deadly respiratory disease across the country.

Maharashtra, which had doubled its tally from 1000 to 2000 Covid-19 cases in six days, neared the 3000 mark. On Tuesday morning, there were 2711 people who have been infected with coronavirus in the western state.

It had recorded its biggest 24-hour jump in cases with 352 more patients on Monday. The state had recorded 11 deaths on Monday, the health department said, taking the toll to 160.

Delhi recorded 1568 cases so far, becoming the city with the most number of infections, and 28 fatalities. In Tamil Nadu, which is the third worst-hit state, there have been 1132 Covid-19 cases and 11 deaths to date.

According to experts, the national lockdown has slowed the spread but warned that if clusters are not contained effectively and testing is not done widely and aggressively, India could fritter away the gains of the restrictions.

The government has, on its part, stepped up containment efforts and ramped up testing in an attempt to curb the highly contagious pathogen from sweeping across the country.

According to the Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus tracker, the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases across the world is at 1,920,618 and more than 119,660 people have died as of Tuesday morning.

Covid-19 vaccine likely by September: Oxford expert

LONDON, April 13: As nearly 30 projects across the globe strive to produce a vaccine for Covid-19 soon, Sarah Gilbert, professor of vaccinology at the University of Oxford, believes that it could be available by September, calling for large-scale production facilities to be in place soon.

Gilbert, who reiterated the projected availability by September on Monday, said clinical trials at the university would start “quite soon”. It is important to set in motion production processes so that it can be made available widely soon, she added.

“We need to start manufacturing large amounts of the vaccine. It is not uncommon for companies to start manufacturing a new vaccine before they really know for certain it works”, she told BBC Radio on Monday morning.

“No-one wants to be in a position where you have a vaccine which you have shown does work and then not have any of the vaccine to use. The sooner we start the quicker we’re going to get to the billion dose scale. That probably won’t be this year but if we don’t start we’re not going to get there next year either,” she added.

The university said researchers are working “at an unprecedented rate” to make the vaccine available, pushing ahead with the process to screen 510 volunteers between the ages of 18 and 55 to test a new one called ChAdOx1 nCoV-19. The trial has been approved by UK regulators and ethical reviewers.

Adrian Hill, director of the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford, said: “The Oxford team had exceptional experience of a rapid vaccine response, such as to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014. This is an even greater challenge”.

“Vaccines are being designed from scratch and progressed at an unprecedented rate. The upcoming trial will be critical for assessing the feasibility of vaccination against COVID-19 and could lead to early deployment.”

Gilbert told The Times last week that she is “80%” confident of its success, “based on other things that we have done with this type of vaccine”. However, many industry experts believe the vaccine could take as long as 18 months to be developed and distributed globally.

WHO says 70 vaccines in the works, with three leading candidates

GENEVA, April 13: There are 70 coronavirus vaccines in development globally, with three candidates already being tested in human trials, according to the World Health Organization, as drugmakers race to find a cure for the deadly pathogen, according to a Bloomberg report.

The furthest along in the clinical process is an experimental vaccine developed by Hong Kong-listed CanSino Biologics Inc. and the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology, which is in phase 2. The other two being tested in humans are treatments developed separately by U.S. drugmakers Moderna Inc. and Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc., according to a WHO document.

India's Covid-19 infections cross 9,000

NEW DELHI, April 13: Even as the number of Covid-19 cases continues to rise in India, the government on Monday pointed out that no news cases have been reported from 25 districts in 15 states where people have been affected by coronavirus.

“No new cases have been detected in the last 14 days in 25 districts across 15 states which had earlier reported coronavirus cases,” Lav Agarwal, joint secretary in the health ministry said at the daily briefing.

The total number of infections in the country rose 9152 by Monday afternoon.

“There have been 796 COVID-19 cases, 35 deaths reported in the last 24 hours,” Agarwal said.

Maharashtar continues to be the worst affected with 1,985 positive cases, followed by Delhi at 1,154 and Tamil Nadu with 1,043.

He said the Core Strategy Group on Coovid-19 is working on molecular surveillance, rapid and economical diagnostics and new drugs.

The government also said that there are enough testing kits as the pace of testing is being raised.

“Till yesterday we conducted 2,06,212 Covid-19 tests. There is no need to worry. We have enough stock to conduct tests for six weeks,” said Raman Gangakhedkar, ICMR’s top scientist.

Gangakhedkar also said the first consignment of Covid-19 testing kits from China will arrive on Tuesday.

India has recently stepped up testing with the government authorising dozens of private labs to carry out tests. But even as the number of testing facilities has increased, there are also fears of false testing posing a danger to the fight against Covid-19.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) had earlier said that more testing was the only way to know the actual scale of the pandemic.

4 more areas brought under Delhi’s Covid-19 containment zones, count rises to 47

NEW DELHI, April 13: Covid-19 continues to stagnate economies and livelihoods across the world. More than 1.8 million people are infected by Covid-19. India has seen cases cross the 9,000 mark but more than 1,000 people have recovered from Covid-19 nationwide. The country remains under a three-week lockdown.

47 areas under containment zone in Delhi. Sant Nagar, Burari and Madipur among the new places added to the list.

South Korea reports more recovered coronavirus patients testing positive again

SEOUL, April 13: South Korea reported on Monday that at least 116 people initially cleared of the new coronavirus had tested positive again, although officials suggested they would soon look at easing strict recommendations aimed at preventing new outbreaks.

South Korea reported only 25 new cases overall on Monday, but the rise in "reactivated" patients has raised concerns as the country seeks to stamp out infections.

Officials are still investigating the cause of the apparent relapses. But Jeong Eun-kyeong, director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), has said the virus may have been reactivated rather than the patients being re-infected.

Other experts said faulty tests may be playing a role, or remnants of the virus may still be in patients' systems but not be infectious or of danger to the host or others.

India's Covid-19 tally reaches 8,447, death toll at 273

NEW DELHI, April 12: With 31 deaths and 918 new positive COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the total number of coronavirus cases in India on Sunday evening climbed to 8,447, including 764 cured and discharged and 273 deaths, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

At present, there are 7,409 active COVID-19 cases in the country.

"A total number of COVID-19 positive cases rises to 8,447 in India, including 764 cured/discharged, 273 deaths and 1 migrated," said the Health Department.

The highest number of positive cases of coronavirus was reported from Maharashtra at 1,761, including 127 deaths, followed by Delhi (1,069 and 19 deaths), Tamil Nadu (969 and 10 deaths) and Rajasthan (700 and 3 deaths).

So far, Maharashtra has reported the most coronavirus deaths at 127, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 36, Gujarat at 22 and Delhi at 19.

Punjab has registered 11 deaths while Tamil Nadu reported 10 fatalities and Telengana nine.

Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have reported six deaths each while West Bengal has registered five deaths.

Jammu and Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh have reported four and five deaths respectively. Haryana and Rajasthan have recorded three deaths each.

Two deaths have been reported from Kerala. Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand and Assam reported one fatality each, according to the health ministry data.

There has been a lag in the Union Health Ministry figures, compared to the number of cases announced by different states, which officials attribute to procedural delays in assigning the cases to individual states.

Italy’s coronavirus death toll is 19,468

ROME, April 11: Deaths from the Covid-19 epidemic in Italy rose by 619 on Saturday, up from 570 the day before, and the number of new cases climbed to 4,694 from a previous 3,951.

The daily death toll was the highest since April 6 and the rise in infections was the biggest since April 4.

After easing from peaks around the end of March, Italy’s daily death and infection tallies have declined but are not falling steeply, as was hoped by Italians who have been in lockdown for a month.

The total death toll since the outbreak came to light on Feb. 21 rose to 19,468, the Civil Protection Agency said, broadly level with that of the United States, the other country worst hit in terms of absolute numbers.

The number of officially confirmed cases climbed to 152,271, the third highest global tally behind those of the United States and Spain.

There were 3,381 people in intensive care on Saturday against 3,497 on Friday -- an eighth consecutive daily decline.

Of those originally infected, 32,534 were declared recovered against 30,455 a day earlier.

Indian Ministers Back In Offices From Monday As PM Alters Lockdown Tactic

NEW DELHI, April 11: The Council of Ministers, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and including Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and Nirmala Sitharaman, will resume work at their ministries from Monday, a day before the end of the lockdown to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus, sources said this evening.

Senior officials entitled to official transports, i.e., from the rank of Joint Secretary and above, will report in as usual, sources said, adding that a third of all essential staff had to be present. Junior officials will continue to work on rotation basis. Each ministry has also been told to plan for post-lockdown and come up with ideas to kick-start the economy.

The Prime Minister has urged that social distancing protocols be followed.

The move to resume work in ministries comes nearly a month after the centre issued work from home protocols and is in line with the centre's change in strategy to deal with the COVID-19 crisis - to one that emphasises both protection of lives and the economy.

Earlier today the Prime Minister indicated a two-week extension to the current lockdown; this was after a four-hour video conference with 13 chief ministers to debate the issue.

Modi, 13 chief ministers hold video conference

During the meeting the Prime Minister also asked states to ensure adequate supply of oxygen for COVID-19 patients and the use of telemedicine to help maintain social distancing.

No decision has been taken, as yet, on allowing flights, domestic and international, as well as trains to re-start operations after Tuesday.

India has reported over 7,500 cases of novel coronavirus infection and 242 deaths. Worldwide the contagious virus has infected over 17 lakh people and killed 1.03 lakhs.

Covid-19 deaths in India cross 200-mark, confirmed cases climb to 6,761

NEW DELHI, April 10: The total number of active coronavirus cases in India crossed the 6,000-mark on Friday, the Health Ministry said.

The Ministry, in its evening update, said that 206 deaths have been reported in India so far, while the active cases stand at 6,039 and the total number of cases climbed to 6,761, which include 71 foreign nationals.

"A total of 515 patients have been cured and discharged," it said.

Maharashtra is the most affected state with 1,364 positive cases and 97 fatalities so far, followed by Delhi with 898 cases and 13 deaths. Tamil Nadu is the third most affected state with 834 cases and 8 deaths. Delhi and Tami Nadu saw their numbers rising due to the number of people who tested positive after attending the Tablighi Jamaat event in the national capital.

Of the total 206 deaths, Maharashtra tops the tally with 97 fatalities, followed by Gujarat at 17, Madhya Pradesh at 16 and Delhi at 13. Punjab registered 11 deaths while Tamil Nadu has reported eight fatalities and Telengana seven.

Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have reported six deaths each while five people have lost their lives in West Bengal. Jammu and Kashmir, and Uttar Pradesh have reported four fatalities each while Haryana and Rajasthan have recorded three deaths each.

Two deaths have been reported from Kerala. Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and Jharkhand reported one fatality each, according to the health ministry data.

There has been a lag in the Union Health Ministry figures, compared to the number of cases announced by different states, which officials attribute to procedural delays in assigning the cases to individual states.

Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary Health Ministry, said there is no community transmission of the coronavirus viral infection, thus people should not panic.

He said the infection rate from coronavirus is not huge, for example out of 16,000 tests in a day, only 2 per cent cases have tested positive. As many as 146 government labs are testing samples for COVID-19 and 67 private labs have been given approval to conduct the test, said the health ministry.

The ministry official said in January this year, they began with just one lab then scaled it up to 15 labs. "We have done upscaling to 2.5 labs in a day so far", said Agarwal.

On the availability of the Hydroxychloroquine, Agarwal said there is a stock of more than 3 crore tablets in the country, and the required projection of consumption is nearly 1 crore tablets.

"The stock is sufficient for the month-end requirement", said Agarwal citing the MEA decision to export surplus medicine.

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) updated its testing strategy for COVID-19 patients in India. The revised strategy mentioned that asymptomatic direct and high-risk contacts of a confirmed case should be tested once between "day 5 and day 14" of coming in his or her contact.

Despite this steep rise in numbers, ICMR data suggests the rate of positive cases is between 3-5% from the samples tested so far.

The government has also significantly increased the number of tests per day, in association with private labs, as it has also identified hotspots and high-risk zones.

The government has started conducting surveys where it is sampling people with hypertension and diabetes. The Health Ministry insists the country has not reached the community transmission stage yet, as the steep rise in the number of positive cases is not observed if it were to have reached the community spread stage.

India is in the final stages of framing a protocol for conducting clinical trial for convalescent plasma therapy, which uses antibodies from the blood of cured patients, to treat severely-ill COVID-19 patients, a senior ICMR official said.

Kerala is set to become the first state in the country to commence the therapy to treat those critically-ill on a trial basis. The ICMR is learnt to have given its nod to the state government for the first of its kind project, initiated by the prestigious Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), a top official had said.

The country will be under a 21-day lockdown until 14 April, which was imposed to curb the spread of the virus.

States like Odisha and Punjab have extended the lockdown till 30 April and 1 May, respectively.

More than 1.6 million cases of the novel coronavirus and 95,000 deaths have been recorded globally, according to Johns Hopkins University.

India records 169 deaths; total cases 5,865

NEW DELHI, April 9: India has reported 591 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours with the total number of coronavirus positive patients in the country climbing to 5,865. Till date, 478 people have recovered and been discharged and 20 people have died since yesterday, the health ministry said on Thursday.

Across the country, as many as 169 people have died after testing positive for the deadly pathogen.

“With the number of Covid-19 cases rising in the country, 5000 train coaches have been turned into isolation wards for Covid-19 positive patients. Supplies of PPEs, masks and ventilators have begun arriving and there is no need to panic over the availability of PPE for frontline health workers,” Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry said at the daily news briefing.

He also urged people to offer full support to doctors and other medical staff fighting the Covid-19 pandemic for days at a stretch for over a month now.

“In order to prepare 80,000 isolation beds, the Indian Railways are converting 5,000 coaches into isolation units, of which 3,250 have been converted,” Aggarwal said.

“Hospitals should follow infection control guidelines so that medical workers don’t contract the disease. The Group of Ministers formed has also advised that doctors who are fighting like soldiers against Covid-19 should get full support from all communities,” he said.

According to health ministry data, orders for 49,000 ventilators have been placed and supply is underway. Ten teams of coronavirus specialists have also been sent to nine states.

On medical supplies available, Aggarwal said, “We are ensuring that not only for now even in future there will not be any lack of HCQ (Hydroxychloroquine) as and when needed.” There is sufficient stock of the hydroxychloroquine drug available in the country, according to health ministry officials.

The health ministry official asked people to follow the ministry website for authentic numbers of positive patients and other government sources of information and not to believe in fake news, which maybe in circulation on social media.

India has enough Hydroxychloroquine: Govt

NEW DELHI, April 9: Government has warned against self-medication using anti-malarial drug Hydroxychloroquine which has been used in some countries including the USA for treatment of Covid-19 cases in special instances and added that it can prove harmful for cardiac patients.

The warning was given out during the daily joint press briefing by the officials of health and home ministry on Wednesday. The health ministry official stated that the anti-malarial drug was meant for use only by medical practitioners exposed to the infection and by the contacts of positive patients. It added that the drug was to be administered only on medical advice.

There have been reports that people were indulging in panic buying of Hydroxychloroquine in the belief that it could act as a vaccine to safeguard against the infection. The government warned against its indiscriminate use.

“Hydroxychloroquine must be used as per particular norms. Hydroxychloroquine is only for contacts (of positive patients) and for doctors who are dealing with positive patients, the protocol related to this disease must be followed,” said Luv Agarwal, joint secretary, health ministry.

He added that the drug, if used without expert medical advise, could end up harming people with heart condition.

“This disease can also be harmful to patients suffering from cardiac irregularities and cardiac diseases. Every medicine has some side effects, therefore, only those who fall in a particular category should be given this medicine,” he added.

The health ministry official also assured that the Centre had enough stock of the medicine and there was no need to worry. India is the biggest manufacturer of the medicine and it recently sent its supplies to friendly countries like the United States and Brazil after lifting the restrictions on its export.

“We have sufficient quantity of the medicine, we have more than what is required today and there is a plan in place to ensure its availability in the future even if the requirement rise,” Agarwal added.

Hydroxychloroquine is used to prevent or treat malaria among other diseases and the US drug department has cleared its “sympathetic” use for the treatment of coronavirus cases after it was reported to have given positive results in reducing the severity of the disease.

The medicine also shot into the limelight after US President Donald Trump was heard saying he could consider retaliating against New Delhi if Washington’s request for supply of the medicine went unheeded.

India later supplied the medicine to US and Brazil after lifting the hold order on Tuesday, a move that was met with appreciation by leaders of both countries.

150 Saudi royals infected by coronavirus: Report

NEW YORK, April 9: Nearly 150 members of the Saudi royal family have been infected by the coronavirus and an elite hospital that treats members of the ruling clan has set aside 500 beds in anticipation of a surge in their numbers, the New York Times reported Thursday.

King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammad bin-Salman, the de facto ruler of the country, did not appear to be among those infected. The monarch has isolated himself in a palace on an island on the Red Sea, and the crown prince is sheltering with senior member of his government at a remote site where he has planned to build a futuristic city, the publication said.

It cited an internal memo issued by the hospital on the beds being set aside. “We don’t know how many cases we will get but high alert,” the message said, instructing that “all chronic patients to be moved out ASAP.”

A senior royal who is governor of Riyadh is among those infected and is in intensive care, the report said.

The coronavirus does not discriminate, as it has demonstrated. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson remained in ICU in London for the third day Thursday, and many members of the Iranian government are reported to have been infected.

Saudi Arabia has nearly 3,300 reported cases confirmed infection and 44 deaths. But the kingdom began its mitigation effort even fore the first case was reported , air travel was suspended on March 2 and so was pilgrimage to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.

There are indications the kingdom may cancel this year’s Haj pilgrimage, which has been held annually without interruption since 1798.

Finally some good news: A 107-year-old Dutch woman and a 81-year-old Indian woman recovered from covid-19

April 9: Kudos to these covid-19 survivors. They are not the only elderly to beat the infectious disease, but they sure are an inspiration for us all.

During old age, our immunity is at its lowest. That’s why the elderly have been the most vulnerable section of the population when it comes to the covid-19 pandemic. Scrutinize the date closely enough and you’ll realise that it’s the elderly who have to the most careful and maintain social distancing. This, of course, has also brought a sense of fear and disappointment.

But today, let’s talk about something positive as we have got two pieces of news that will not just bring a smile on your face but it will also give a sense of hope.

For starters, a 107-year-old recovered from covid-19 infection

Meet Cornelia Ras, who fell ill on March 17, the day after her 107th birthday–after attending a church service with other residents of her nursing home on Goeree-Overflakkee, an island in the southwest of Netherlands.

She and 40 others at the service were subsequently diagnosed as carrying the virus. Twelve of that group have since died, but Ras was told by her doctors on Monday that she has beaten the infection.

“We did not expect her to survive this”, her niece Maaike de Groot told a newspaper.

“She takes no medicines, still walks well and gets down on her knees every night to thank the Lord. From the looks of it, she will be able to continue to do so.” Prior to Ras, the oldest widely documented coronavirus survivor was Bill Lapschies, a 104-year-old American.

Kulwant Nirmal, a 81-year-old survivor, from Punjab also has a message for all. After coming back home, Kulwant Nirmal is spending her time urging people to stay indoors to protect themselves from the infection.

According to a video shared by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Twitter, Kulwant Nirmal of Mohali, a diabetes and hypertension patient, tested positive for coronavirus. But her will to fight overshadowed everything, and now she is healthy and at home.

She is among the patients in the state who have recovered from the infection. In her video message, she said with folded hands: “Doctors took care of me. Never be afraid of the disease. Follow whatever the government and the doctors are saying.”

“Keep your will power strong. Have courage and do prayers. Waheguru will save you,” the octogenarian said. Her son Gurminder Singh said he was quarantined at along with other family members when her mother was admitted to a private hospital.

Her mother, a diabetes and hypertension patient for 30 years, was the only coronavirus case in the family, he said.

God bless both the survivors!

Proper measures and precautions will help your parents prevent covid-19
There have been researches that have found social distancing to be the biggest way to prevent coronavirus. Plus, eating a healthy diet which is loaded with immunity-boosting foods will also help your parents recover better and faster.

Apart from that please ensure that your parents stay at home and if some essentials are needed for the house, then don’t let them step outside. You can help them by getting essentials delivered to their doorsteps.

20 corona hotspots sealed in Delhi, wearing of masks compulsory

NEW DELHI, April 8: The Delhi government on Wednesday announced that it has sealed 20 coronavirus hotspots across the city and no movement of people will be allowed in those areas. Delhi has recorded 669 positive cases so far with 93 cases reported today. There have also been nine deaths; however, no reports of any death in the last 24 hours.

In another decision, the government made it compulsory for people to wear masks while stepping out of their homes.

“Total 20 hotspots have been identified in Delhi and were sealed. Nobody will be allowed to enter or exit these areas,” Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said.

These areas include Gali No. 6, L-1ST Sangam Vihar; Gandhi Park, Malviya Nagar; Mandawli Gali No. 1; Pandav Nagar H Block Gali No. 1; Khichdipur Gali No. 1-3; Kishan Kunj Ext Gali No. 4; two apartments in IP Extension -- Vardhaman, Mayur Dhwaj; and Mansara Apartment in Vasundhra Enclave,Krishan Kunj among others.

The deputy CM said the decision was taken to prevent the spread of coronavirus infection.

“The areas will be completely sealed while the administration will ensure door-to-door delivery of essential items,” Sisodia said.

According to the Health Ministry, an area with 10 or more cases of an infection is called a cluster and if multiple clusters develop in any region it has the potential to spread the infection further and is called a hotspot.

However, for coronavirus, it is an emerging term and even an area with one positive case can be called a hotspot, depending upon the possibility of the spread in that area, the Health Department said.

After an area is declared a hotspot or has the capacity to be a hotspot, the authorities have the right to restrict the movement of the people and seal the area making it a containment zone -- locking down a defined geographic area to contain the outbreak of coronavirus.

The containment zones, created to map the local transmission of the disease and prevent the contagion from spreading, are announced by the office of the district magistrate. It completely shuts the movement of the common people with the authorities taking care of the essential supplies.

The area and the houses in it are sanitised properly. So far, several pockets in the city have been declared containment zones, including parts of Nizamuddin, Dilshad Garden, Vasundhara Enclave, Kalyanpuri, Pandav Nagar, Krishan Kunj, Khichripur, Malviya Nagar, Sangam Vihar and Patparganj.

India tally close to 5000-mark; Toll 124

NEW DELHI, April 7: Total number of coronavirus cases in India was inching towards the 5000-mark with a total of 4789 cases registered till late Tuesday evening, including 124 deaths, eight of them coming in the last 24 hours, as per the latest data available with the ministry of health.

Maharashtra also became the first Indian state to register over 1000 positive cases as the state administration put the total at 1,018, including 116 fresh cases recorded in Mumbai alone, however, the central government’s figure for the state was still 28 short of a thousand.

In some good news, the health ministry said government’s containment efforts in worst-affected clusters was bearing fruit, notably in Agra, Noida, Bhilwara, East Delhi and Pathanamthitta due to the proactive measures taken at the ground level. The health ministry officials also highlighted the importance of the lockdown and social distancing measures in the overall strategy to contain the spread of the pathogen by citing a recent study by ICMR, which in lay man’s terms says that a coronavirus-positive person could have ended up infecting over 400 others had the restrictions not been in place, which have the potential to limit the spread per infected person to 2.5 people.

However, there is still no decision on a possible extension to the three-week nationwide lockdown in the light of requests by states like Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra and Karnataka favouring an extension. Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab are also said to be in favour of maintaining the restrictions beyond April 14.

In other important developments, the Centre said it had issued guidelines to states to streamline coronavirus disease management by dividing the health facilities into three categories -- Covid Care Centres, Covid Health Centres and Dedicated Covid Hospitals to segregate the management of mild, moderate and severe cases respectively.

The country’s testing capacity has also witnessed a gradual increase and the total number of samples tested now stand at 1,07,006 including 11795 samples that were tested between Monday and Tuesday.

One hundred and thirty six government labs and 59 private laboratories are authorised to test for Covid-19 at the moment even as rapid tests involving antibody testing have begun and the first set of results ratified by the Pune Lab.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has indicated that his government will ramp up testing along with tracing, treatment, teamwork, and tracking. He cited South Korea’s example to say that mass testing was required to contain the disease before it exploded like in other urban centres in Europe and America. The Delhi government has ordered conventional kits to test 50,000 people and rapid test kits to test 100,000 people and announced that random testing at hotspots will begin soon.

According to Worldometre, a website that tracks the total number of coronavirus cases across the world, India has the lowest rate of tests per million—102-- of the population among the top 34 countries battling the coronavirus.

Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu decided to follow Centre’s lead as the former slashed the salaries of all public representatives including MLAs and ministers by 30% for the year and also merged the MLA local area development fund for the next two years with the state funds earmarked for Covid-19 containment efforts and the latter ordering the utilisation of Rs one crore from the MLA fund for purchasing medical equipment, drugs and for funding other prevention initiatives against coronavirus.

In other important news, states continued to encourage Tablighi Jamaat participants from the March event in Delhi to contact authorities to aid in effective containment measures with the Punjab government giving them (Tablighi workers) a 24-hour deadline to approach the nearest police stations and the Delhi police also issuing a similar order. Authorities in Maharasthra complained that around 50-60 attendees of the event have switched off their phones and were trying to hide in the state.

India now has 4067 cases; death toll at 109

NEW DELHI, April 6: The number of coronavirus disease cases in India rose to 4067, with an increase of 490 in the last 12 hours, and the deaths related to Covid-19 were recorded at 109 on Monday morning, the Union health ministry said.

There are 3666 active cases of Covid-19 and 291 people have been cured or discharged till date, according to the figures released by the Union health ministry at 9am. This is up from 3577 cases and 83 deaths, according to the health ministry data, on Sunday.’

The Covid-19 cases and deaths have been reported in 30, out of 36, states and Union territories till date.

Maharashtra, which is the worst-affected state in the country, reported 777 Covid-19 cases including 45 deaths. Tamil Nadu was second with 584 patients of the coronavirus disease followed by Delhi, which has reported 528 cases with seven fatalities.

The numbers in Delhi have risen after hundreds of people, who took part in the Tablighi Jamaat’s religious congregation in Nizamuddin, tested positive for Covid-19.

Mumbai and other cities in Maharashtra like Pune and Nagpur have recorded a substantial rise in the number of Covid-19 patients in last few days—of these nearly 85% are in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and Pune district, the most urbanised areas of the state.

The state government has decided to focus on these areas to contain the spread of the virus. The municipal corporations in these cities have been directed to implement the cluster containment action plan minutely to restrict the spread.

Municipal corporations in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai have formed 519 and 196 teams of the health works respectively to work in the containment zones and monitoring people who are in high-risk areas. Pune has 439 teams and Nagpur city has 210.

“We have 3078 teams comprising more than four members in each team across the state. They have traced more than 10 lakh people who need to be monitored to avoid the spread,” said state health minister Rajesh Tope.

The Centre said on Saturday that the doubling rate of the pathogen’s spread was at 4.1 days and it said would have stood at 7.4 if not for the Nizamuddin hotspot.

The jump in the number of coronavirus infections, officials said, has been driven by the detection of hundreds of people who attended the congregation of the Tablighi Jamaat, a Muslim missionary group, in Delhi’s Nizamuddin Markaz last month.

Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Karnataka, Andaman and Nicobar, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Arunachal Pradesh and Jharkhand have reported cases linked to the Tablighi Jamaat event in March.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), India’s top biomedical research organisation has said that Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, is not airborne.

“If it was an airborne infection, then in a family whoever has a contact they all should come positive because they are living in the same surrounding as the patient and the family is breathing the same air,” Raman R Gangakhedkar, ICMR’s head of epidemiology and communicable diseases, said on Saturday.

“When someone is admitted in a hospital, other patients would have been exposed (if it was airborne) but that is not the case,” he said.

ICMR also issued an advisory saying spitting in public places could enhance the spread of Covid-19.

It has released an advisory on how and where to use the rapid test, which can determine the immunity of an individual and help people get back into the workforce.

The advisory includes people in high-risk areas or containment zones, large migration gatherings and evacuation centres.

Millions of people across India turned off their lights and lit up their balconies and doorsteps with lamps, candles and flashlights on Sunday, in response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal to “challenge the darkness” spread by the coronavirus crisis.

The Prime Minister, who imposed a three-week-long nationwide lockdown on March 25, asked all citizens to turn out their lights for nine minutes at 9pm and to display lamps and candles in a show of solidarity.

Officials in multiple states have said curbs on movement and commercial activity could be relaxed first in districts with no coronavirus disease cases as part of their plan to a staggered return to normal activity could work after April 14, when the nationwide lockdown is scheduled to end.

Central officials said on Sunday that they discussed with states a “containment strategy” that hinges on identifying and cordoning off hot spot areas.

This strategy could be crucial to lifting the three-week lockdown in force since March 25 without risking a resurgence of the disease. As on Sunday, cases have been reported from 274 of the country’s 718 districts. Twenty-one of the 230 districts in nine states are considered hot spots.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a conference call on Thursday with chief ministers from across the country, had asked states to pitch in with ideas on how the curbs can be relaxed in a phased manner.

The number of Covid-19 cases in the world was 1.25 million on Sunday night, and the number of deaths stood at 68,000.

India cases stand at 3,577 with toll at 83

NEW DELHI, April 5: India’s death toll from COVID-19 rose to 83 on Sunday, with 11 fatalities since Saturday. The number of confirmed infections across the country stood at 3,577 cases, with 505 new cases; 274 persons have recovered, the Union Health Ministry said.

“We are chasing the virus rather than the other way around and India’s strategy continues to be preventive. We rather be over prepared,” Joint Secretary in the Union Health Ministry Lav Agarwal said at Sunday’s press briefing.

The Ministry maintained that last month’s Tablighi Jamaat gathering in Delhi has pushed up the doubling rate of cases in India to 4.1 days from the estimated 7.4 days.

Reports from State Health Departments put the death toll across the country at 127, with 3,603 active cases. The maximum number of cases continued to be reported from Maharashtra at 748, with 13 fatalities in the past 24 hours. Tamil Nadu followed with 559 active cases, reporting two fatalities since Saturday.

Stating that there is no evidence to suggest airborne transmission of the novel coronavirus, Head of Epidemiology and Communicable Diseases with the Indian Council of Medical Research Raman Gangakhedkar said rapid antibody-based blood test for COVID-19 would be deployed by Wednesday for high prevalence areas and hot spots across India.

Asked about concerns raised by doctors of AIIMS, Delhi and other cities on the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPEs), Agarwal said the situation should ease in few days.

“... [the] allotment done by us is based on cases reported in States. We have advocated for rational use of PPEs. We are also making an effort to see how procurement can be further enhanced. We have discussed this with all health secretaries and other officials,” he said.

He explained that initially a component of the PPE was being imported so there was some shortage but now domestic manufacturers have started producing and procuring them from whichever country has them.

Agarwal quoted Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan as saying that till a drug or vaccine is found, social distancing and lockdown are the only available and effective vaccines against the novel coronavirus.

Meanwhile, doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) in Delhi have opposed a circular calling for mandatory donations from salaries to the PM CARES fund. They also expressed concern about lack of PPEs, difficulties in travel faced by health care workers, and lack of sanitation and urged that funds collected be used locally instead of transferring it to the PM CARES.

The Health Ministry issued a clarification on Sunday night stating that a fake notification was doing the rounds asserting that five days salary of employees under Health Ministry would be remitted to the PM CARES fund.

Stating that reports of COVID-19 have been confirmed in 274 districts, the Ministry said lessons have been learned from high-incidence areas including Agra and Gautam Buddh Nagar in Utta Pradesh, Bhilwara in Rajasthan, East Delhi and Mumbai Municipal in Maharahstra which recently saw a large number of COVID-19 cases.

Punya Salila Srivastava, Joint Secretary, Home Ministry noted that so far 27,661 relief camps/shelters have been set up across States across India — 23,924 by State governments and 3,737 by NGOs with 12.5 lakh migrant workers taking shelter in them. 19,460 food camps have also been set up (9,951 by govt and 9,509 by NGOs). More than 75 lakh people are being provided food and 13.6 lakh workers are being provided shelter and food by their employers and industry, she said.

More than 60,000 deaths worldwide from coronavirus

NEW DELHI, April 4: The coronavirus pandemic has killed at least 60,000 people worldwide, nearly three quarters of them in Europe, since it emerged in China in December, according to a tally at 1330 GMT Saturday from official sources.

A total of 60,457 deaths have been recorded, including 44,132 in Europe, the continent worst hit by the virus.

The official tallies probably reflect only a fraction of the actual number of infections.

With 14,681 deaths, Italy is the country with the highest death toll, followed by Spain (11,744), the United States (7,159), France (6,507) and Britain (4,313).

Since COVID-19 first emerged, 1,130,204 cases have been declared officially in the world, with more than half of them in Europe (610,846).

There have been 290,219 in the United States and Canada (7,325 deaths between them) and 115,777 cases in Asia (4,124 deaths).

India reports 62 deaths, 2,547 coronavirus cases

NEW DELHI, April 3: India’s coronavirus positive cases climbed to 2,547 on Friday, with the death toll across states rising to 62, the Union health ministry said.

The number of active coronavirus cases stands at 2,322, while 162 people have either been cured or discharged and one had migrated, according to health ministry data.

On Friday evening, six deaths were reported. Four deaths were from Telangana and one each from Gujarat and Punjab.

Maharashtra, which has reported the highest number of cases so far in the country, has also reported the most number of deaths (26) till date, followed by Gujarat (8), Telangana (7), Madhya Pradesh (6), Punjab (5), Delhi (4), Karnataka (3), West Bengal (3), Jammu and Kashmir (2), Uttar Pradesh (2) and Kerala (2).

Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Himachal Pradesh have reported one death each. The total of 2,547 cases in the country also includes 55 foreign nationals.

The highest number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus infection has been reported from Maharashtra followed by Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

In Delhi, out of the total 386 coronavirus cases, 259 are from the Nizamuddin Markaz, the Delhi Health Department has said. The national capital reported 91 new coronavirus positive cases in the last 24 hrs taking the total number to 386.

Maharashtra’s state health department data revealed that 67 new coronavirus positive cases have been reported on Friday. The total number of Covid-19 cases in the state stands at 490. The death toll in Maharashtra has jumped to 26, according to news agency ANI.

To help states in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday approved the release of Rs 11,092 crore to all states under the State Disaster Risk Management Fund (SDRMF). The money will be used for setting up quarantine facilities and arranging other necessities for containing the spread of coronavirus. The Home Ministry said the fund has been approved following an assurance given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to chief ministers during his video conference on Thursday.

The Ministry of Home Affairs too contributed Rs 205 crore, drawn from one day’s salary of staff under its command, to the PM-CARES Fund to combat the health crisis in the country. The ministry has also written to state governments to take strict action against those who have been found attacking healthcare and frontline workers. Reports of healthcare workers as well as security personnel being attacked have come in from several parts of the country amid the lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.

A number of Tablighi Jamaat members quarantined at a Ghaziabad hospital allegedly misbehaved with nurses on Friday, making lewd remarks and other obscene gestures, provoking the Uttar Pradesh government to invoke the stringent National Security Act (NSA) against them.

The six Jamaat members at the district hospital were shifted to an isolation ward set up at a private educational institute after complaints received against them.

They are among the thousands who attended a religious congregation at the organisation’s New Delhi headquarters in Nizamuddin, now identified as a coronavirus hotspot.

Global Virus Cases Top A Million, Deaths Surpass 50,000

NEW YORK, April 3: The number of confirmed coronavirus cases around the world has soared past one million and deaths have topped 50,000 as the United States reported the highest daily death toll of any country so far.

Despite more than half the planet living in some form of lockdown, the virus is continuing to spread rapidly, and to claim lives at an alarming pace, with the US, Spain and Britain all seeing their worst days yet.

The economic cost of the pandemic is getting starker by the day, with new figures showing that an extra 6.65 million Americans signed on for unemployment benefit last week, taking to 10 million the number of people who lost their jobs in the last two weeks of March.

And economists warned it was going to get worse.

"No words for this," said Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics.

"Total layoffs between the March and April payroll surveys look destined to reach perhaps 16 to 20 million, consistent with the unemployment rate leaping to 13 to 16 percent. In one month."

Financial ratings agency Fitch on Thursday predicted that the US and eurozone economies would shrink this quarter by up to 30 percent as struggling businesses slash investment and unemployment dampens consumer spending.

World leaders have announced huge financial aid packages to deal with the crisis and the World Bank on Thursday approved a plan to roll out $160 billion in emergency cash over 15 months.

The United States now accounts for around a quarter of all known infections around the globe, and its death toll is rocketing up.

About 6,000 people have died in the US outbreak, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University, more than 1,100 of them in the last 24 hours.

White House experts say between 100,000 and 240,000 Americans could ultimately die from the disease.

Disaster response agency FEMA on Thursday asked the US military for 100,000 body bags.

Around 85 percent of Americans are under some form of stay-at-home order.

In New York, the epicenter of the US outbreak, Mayor Bill de Blasio urged residents to cover their faces when outside and Vice President Mike Pence said there would be a recommendation on the use of masks by the general public in the next few days.

Europe has been at the center of the crisis for weeks, but there have been signs that the epidemic could be approaching its peak there.

Spain and Britain saw record numbers of new deaths in a 24-hour period -- 950 and 569 respectively.

Italy and Spain together account for almost half of the global death toll, but experts say the number of new infections in both countries is continuing to slow.

"The data show the curve has stabilized" and the epidemic has entered a "slowdown" phase, Spanish Health Minister Salvador Illa said.

The virus has chiefly affected the elderly and those with pre-existing medical conditions, but recent cases of deaths among teenagers and even of a six-week-old baby have highlighted the dangers for people of all ages.

"The very notion that 'COVID-19 only affects older people' is factually wrong," said Hans Kluge of the World Health Organization on Thursday.

Severe cases have been reported among teens and young adults, with some requiring intensive care and several deaths, he said.

In Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed to "massively increase testing" as his health minister said the aim was 100,000 tests a day within weeks.

Johnson, who has himself tested positive for COVID-19, has come in for criticism for his government's failure to provide widespread screening, particularly for frontline health workers.

In Russia, President Vladimir Putin extended paid non-working days until the end of April as the number of confirmed cases jumped by more than a quarter to 3,500.

Most of the Russian population is on lockdown, while Thailand became the latest country to impose strict measures with the introduction of a curfew from Friday.

Spain Reports 950 Coronavirus Deaths In 24 Hours, Total Count Tops 10,000

MADRID, April 2: The coronavirus death count in Spain surged over 10,000 on Thursday after a record 950 deaths in 24 hours, with the number of confirmed cases passing the 110,000 mark, the government said.

Spain has the world's second-highest death count after Italy, with the virus so far claiming 10,003 lives although the rate of new infections and deaths continued its downward trend, the health ministry figures showed.

Modi Seeks Plan For 'Staggered' Movement Of People After Lockdown

NEW DELHI, April 2: The centre and states must have a common plan to ensure staggered movement of people after the national lockdown ends, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today at a video-conference with Chief Ministers on coronavirus which, he remarked, was threatening our way of life.

"It is important to formulate a common exit strategy to ensure staggered re-emergence of the population once the lockdown ends," Modi emphasised, according to a statement giving details of the interaction. He asked states to send their suggestions for such an exit strategy.

The PM also said it "can't be business as usual" after the lockdown and certain safeguards would have to be taken, according to the statement. States must enforce the lockdown "seriously", he said, urging them to stick to social distancing.

States were asked to "work on war footing, identify virus hotspots and encircle them" to contain the infection. The focus for the next few weeks must be testing, tracing, isolation and quarantine, the Prime Minister told states.

The goal, he said, was to ensure minimum loss of life, and observed that the global situation was "far from satisfactory" with speculation of a second wave in some countries.

Nine chief ministers participated in the meeting, which was conducted by Home Minister Amit Shah. Modi, Shah and other ministers sat far apart from one another inside a large hall.

According to some chief ministers, there was no response to their request for more funds to fight the virus.

Modi ordered a total national lockdown for 21 days on March 24 and said it was necessary to break the chain of transmission of the highly contagious disease, which has infected close to a million worldwide.

The announcement led to a scramble for essential supplies and over the next few days, thousands of migrant workers abruptly left without jobs or shelter, started walking home. The movement on the roads presented a frightening spectacle at a time social distancing is crucial to avoid infection.

The PM, in his radio show on Sunday, apologised for what he called a tough decision necessary to fight coronavirus.

India has over 2,000 coronavirus cases including 53 deaths.

During the video conference, Modi and the leaders also discussed contact tracing of hundreds who attended an Islamic sect meeting in Delhi's Nizamuddin linked to nearly 400 coronavirus cases.

India cases close to 2000; Mosque contact tracing on ‘war footing’

NEW DELHI, April 1: The number of Covid-19 cases in India soared close to 2,000 on Wednesday, fuelled largely by infections linked to a March event of the Tablighi Jamaat in the heart of Delhi that emerged this week as the biggest domestic source of the disease in the country.

According to a tally of numbers released by 25 states and union territories, close to 8,500 people have been identified as having been to the Islamic sect’s headquarters in the capital’s Nizamuddin area, prompting authorities to intensify efforts to trace them since they may be carrying the virus and potentially infecting others.

This is in addition to the 2,346 people who have been evacuated from the Tablighi Jamaat’s six-storey mosque complex – called a markaz – in Delhi since Sunday, including 531 who have now been taken to hospitals as they showed symptoms of the disease.

In all, 358 confirmed Covid-19 across the country have been linked to the markaz.

In a video conference with the police and administration heads of the states, Union cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba asked all states to launch on “war footing” a contact tracing of all those who attended Tablighi Jamaat events in Delhi this month.

In a briefing later in the evening, the health ministry said the country recorded 386 new cases in 24 hours – a surge that was driven by the infections among the sect’s members.

“I want to highlight that the rise in the number of positive cases does not represent a national trend, but if there will be a failure anywhere, obviously cases will rise,” said health ministry joint secretary Lav Agarwal, reiterating the need for people to follow social distancing guidelines and not violate the nationwide lockdown underway at present.

Over the weekend, officials discovered infections were multiplying at the markaz after alerts began streaming in from other states where people who had been to the building and developed symptoms after heading out to other cities. At least nine of these people – six in Telangana and one each in Kashmir, Gujarat and Karnataka – have died due to the disease.

By 1 pm on Wednesday, the markaz was sanitised by sanitation workers in decontamination suits. The workers said they found the insides of the building to be damp. “We have sprayed every corner of the building, but its insides are damp due to the absence of sunlight. Usually the surfaces we have been spraying all these days were dry, so we don’t know how effective the disinfectant would be,” said Harish Kumar, a sanitation worker.

Kumar described the markaz as comprising mostly large halls, many of which had rows of beds spread out. “Rows and rows of mattresses were spread out in the halls, floor after floor,” he said.

Authorities may now begin an exercise to canvass the Nizamuddin area, a congested residential locality. “As part of the cluster containment strategy, Nizamuddin, which is turning out to be a big cluster, would require aggressive door-to-door- contact tracing and testing to pick up positive cases. After the evacuation and segregation at the epicentre, next step will be to trace possible cases that may have directly or indirectly come into contact with them; and test them,” said a senior health ministry official, requesting anonymity.

The Delhi Police and Intelligence Bureau separately estimated that around 6,500 to 7,000 people visited the markaz between March 10 and March 24 – when active infections are believed to have been taking place at the building. At least 300 of these were foreign nationals, including the six Indonesians who died in Telangana.

Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have seen the bulk of infections linked to the markaz, with the three states reporting 237 cases. Tamil Nadu added 110 on Wednesday alone, taking its total to 190.

Officials in at least two other states -- Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra -- said they are using cellphone location and call data to search for people who had been to the Tablighi Jamaat in Delhi.

According to intelligence bureau officials who asked not to be named, about 2,000 foreign nationals arrived on tourist visas from at least 70 countries to take part in the sect’s work across the country since January 1. Participating in religious activity while on a tourist visa is prohibited by Indian immigration rules.

According to the home ministry’s assessment, a majority of these foreign nationals were from Bangladesh (493), Indonesia (472), Malaysia (150) and Thailand (142).

“All the ambassadors of the concerned countries have been contacted and they’ve been informed about the position of various nationals that are involved in this [matter],” said a person who asked not to be named.

The home ministry has now directed state authorities to immediately deport foreigners who test negative for Covid-19 by the “first available flights”.

Coronavirus epidemic ‘far from over’ in Asia: WHO

GENEVA, Mar 31: The coronavirus epidemic is “far from over” in the Asia-Pacific region, and the current measures to curb the spread of the virus are merely buying time for countries to prepare for large-scale community transmissions, a WHO official said on Tuesday.

Even with all the measures, the risk of transmission in the region will not go away as long as the pandemic continues, said Takeshi Kasai, Regional Director for the Western Pacific at the World Health Organization (WHO).

Preparations for a large-scale transmission must reach everyone, Kasai said at a virtual media briefing.

Kasai warned that for countries that are seeing a tapering off of cases, they should not let down their guard, or the virus may come surging back.