Corona cases 84, PM shares quarantine rules
‘Home quarantine meant to protect you and your loved ones’ Suspected Covid patient dies in Maha
The number of coronavirus positive cases in the country rose to 84 on Saturday, including two deaths reported earlier in Delhi and Karnataka. Concerned with the rising cases across the country, the home ministry said that grants earmarked under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) can be utilised to procure essential equipment and take measures to quarantine people in order to combat the coronavirus outbreak.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday took to Twitter to share the health ministry’s guidelines on home quarantine, even as an Indian national in Rwanda tested positive for the novel coronavirus, becoming the first confirmed case of COVID19 in the east African country.
Educational institutions in several states, including West Bengal and Haryana, suspended classes for a week to till further notice.
The Union home ministry issued a two-page directive to all states, specifying list of items eligible for SDRF and norms of assistance. As part of the first head defined under “measures for quarantine, sample collection and screening”, the latest sanction will include provisions for temporary accommodation, food, clothing, medical care for people affected by the virus and sheltered in quarantine camps.
A state executive committee (SEC) will regulate the utilisation of funds in this context from the SDRF, which is funded by the Union home ministry. As part of the second authorisation meant for procurement of essential items, the directive said that the cost of setting up additional testing laboratories and the cost of consumables can be drawn from SDRF. Personal protection equipment for healthcare, municipal, police and fire authorities can also be bought from SDRF funds.
Earlier, the home ministry had issued a notification declaring coronavirus a “notified ■
disaster” and said `4 lakh will be given to the family of deceased persons, but later revised it.
Officials maintained that more than 4,000 people who had come in contact with the 84 positive cases are under surveillance. “A Mahan Air flight bringing back Indian passengers from Iran will land in Mumbai on Saturday midnight. A special Air India flight is being sent to Milan in Italy on Saturday to bring back Indian students,” the official added.
Meanwhile, a 71-year-old man who had returned from Saudi Arabia and was suspected to have coronavirus infection died during treatment in Maharashtra’s Buldhana district on Saturday afternoon, a hospital official said. He was suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure.
Sharing the health ministry’s guidelines on home quarantine, Prime Minister Modi tweeted, “Some important information here. Do read”. The health ministry said home quarantine is meant “to protect you and your loved ones.” According to the guidelines, those quarantined at home should stay in a well-ventilated single-room, preferably with an attached or separate toilet. If another family member needs to stay in the same room, it’s advisable to maintain a distance of at least a metre between the two. Quarantined individuals must stay away from the elderly, pregnant women, children and persons with co-morbidities within the household as their immunity may be low.
Cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba on Saturday reviewed preparedness and actions taken with the chief secretaries of various states through a videoconference. Mr Gauba emphasised on strengthening preventive and control measures with adequate number of isolation wards, need to enhance quarantine facilities and ensure that arrivals from the identified countries are quarantined as per the laid guidelines, and also reviewed the steps taken for mass awareness regarding Covid-19.
Also, 12,29,363 passengers have been screened from 11,406 flights at the 30 designated airports. As per government data, the total number of 84 confirmed cases includes 17 foreigners — 16 Italian tourists and a Canadian.
Rwanda’s health ministry, in a statement, said that the Indian citizen who has tested positive arrived there from Mumbai on March 8.
“The patient had no symptoms upon arrival in Rwanda and reported himself to a health facility on March 13, where he was immediately tested,” the ministry said on Twitter. “He is currently under treatment and in stable condition, isolated from other patients,” said the statement. This is the second case in east Africa, after Kenya recorded the first case on Friday.
According to reports, a woman infected with coronavirus escaped quarantine in Bengaluru, took a flight to New Delhi and travelled to her parent’s place in Agra by train. The woman, wife of Google employee who had tested positive for coronavirus, had visited Italy recently for their honeymoon. Health officials tracking the woman faced resistance from her family members in Agra who cooperated only after the police and the district magistrate intervened.
A police constable, meanwhile, who was suspected of having contracted coronavirus and was admitted to isolation ward at the district hospital at Jalna in Maharashtra has tested negative.
A 56-year-old Haryana native, who was admitted to the coronavirus isolation ward of the medical college hospital in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday, gave the slip to hospital authorities shortly after admission, but was later traced.