Surge in cases, all inbound flyers put on corona watch

29 infected, dozens more isolated as contact-tracing intensifies

NEWDELHI: The number of people with the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in India rose sharply to 29 and additional schools and offices were closed in several cities on Wednesday as authorities found more people with signs of an infection, deepening the potential for the virus to spread further in what could turn into a health emergency for the country.

The infections confirmed on Wednesday include a 26-yearold man who works for Paytm in Gurugram and had been to Italy – one of the hotbeds of the outbreak. The rest were people who had been in close contact with the three patients confirmed to have been infected by the novel coronavirus earlier this week.

In Hyderabad, where one Covid-19 case was confirmed on Monday, authorities said two more people were found positive for coronavirus in preliminary testing. Their status will be confirmed by the National institute of Virology, Pune, potentially taking total for people infected in India to 31.

With all of the active cases linked to people who arrived either from Dubai or Italian cities, Union health minister Harsh Vardhan announced on Wednesday it was expanding its screening of passengers at airports to all inbound international flights.

Three patients in Kerala recovered from the disease last month

In the less than three months since it started spreading from China, the novel coronavirus — technically known as the SARSCOV-2 — has sickened at least 94,000 people, of which around 3,200 have died. By Wednesday, the pathogen spread to nearly 80 countries — with South Korea, Iran and Italy now accounting for the maximum number of new cases outside of China.

The rate of spread and the severity of the disease — the

Of these, a Paytm staffer working in Gurugram was confirmed as a new infection

Six other confirmed patients are Agra-based relatives of a Delhi resident, who tested positive on Monday

The rest, 15, are a group of Italian tourists and an Indian who drove them. A person who separated from the group first tested positive in Jaipur earlier this week

88 close contacts of the Delhi patients are under watch

The wife of the Italian tourist who tested positive on Tuesday was confirmed as another Covid-19 patient

At least 215 people came in contact with the Italian tourists. Of these, 51 were cleared, officials said

While confirmation is awaited, two more people are believed to be infected, taking the total number to 3

Of these, one person is believed to have been in close contact with the techie who came from Dubai and was confirmed a patient on Monday. A third is believed to have visited Italy

World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday it appears to kill 3.4 out of every 100 people it sickens — poses a challenge for a dense country like India.

“Containment of Covid-19 must remain the top priority, but in the event of community transmission, the focus would have to shift towards protecting the most vulnerable population and minimising both the health and social impact of the outbreak,” said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, regional director, South-east Asia Region, of which India is a part.

Community transmission means infections within a population are not imported from another virus-hit area. To stem such spread, Indian health officials have activated a labyrinthine “contact-tracing” operation, with more than 300,000 ground-level workers at hand to track down new infections.