5 new Kerala infections take virus cases upto39

2 others show Covid-19 symptoms in initial testing

NEWDELHI/THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Union health ministry on Sunday confirmed five more cases of the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in Kerala, taking the total number of infected patients in India to 39 even as states across the country stepped up efforts to stem the spread of the virus that has shown little signs of abating globally.

Two other people – one in New Delhi and one in Agra – tested positive for Covid-19 in preliminary tests, adding to the five others who were diagnosed a day before. A confirmation for the suspected cases is awaited from the Union government’s National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, which is the final certifying authority for all positive tests in the country.

The novel coronavirus, officially named SARS-Cov-2, has killed over 3,600 people and affected more than 108,000 across 95 countries since its outbreak in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year. The Indian government has been screening all international passengers entering the country since Thursday. The Centre on Sunday added the US, France and Spain to the list of 15 high-risk countries from where passengers arriving in India will not just be screened for symptoms but will also be isolated from others through separate aerobridges, and will be put under a stricter community surveillance programme if the disease is suspected.

There are now 39 confirmed cases in the country: 25 housed in the National Capital Region, followed by Kerala (8), Jaipur (2), Ladakh (2), Telangana (1) and Tamil Nadu (1). This figure includes 16 Italian tourists, who are in isolation centres in NCR, and three Kerala students who have recovered from the disease.

The number of infections in the country has spiked since last week, seeing a nearly eight-fold jump since Monday (March 2), raising the spectre of community transmission of the virus, although all the patients who have tested positive so far either have a history of travel to virushit countries such as China, Italy and Iran, or were in contact with someone who got infected while travelling to these countries.