COVID-19 count reaches 43 in India

New Delhi, March 9 (IANS) With three new cases confirmed on Monday in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Kerala the number of coronavirus cases have risen up to 43 in India.

Four new cases of COVID-19 have been reported since Sunday. This includes one from Ernakulam in Kerala, one from Delhi, one from Uttar Pradesh, and a COVID-19 case from Jammu was confirmed on Sunday.

Of these 43, three patients from Kerala that were confirmed positive in February, have recovered and were discharged from the hospital.

"The five cases from Kerala reported on Sunday are three family members with travel history to Italy and two are their relatives, who came in contact with them. The family is reported to have visited relatives and attended a few functions and their contacts are being traced," Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said in a statement on Monday.

The patient from Jammu is said to have travelled to Iran, while the confirmed case in Delhi has reportedly travelled to Italy. The infected person, from Meerut in Uttar Pradesh was infected by the six persons who were found positive in Agra earlier. The Uttar Pradesh patient has been found through contact tracing.

According to the Health Ministry, a total of 8,74,708 international passengers from 8,255 flights have been screened at airports till now with 1,921 passengers identified as symptomatic. 177 of them have been hospitalised, 33,599 passengers are under observation and 21,867 passengers have completed their observation period.

The ministry has urged people to reveal clearly about their travel history and fill the details in self-declaration forms properly.

The Special Secretary of the Health Ministry Sanjeeva Kumar also clarified that the patient from Murshidabad, West Bengal was tested negative for COVID-19 and hence, so far no death has been reported due to COVID-19 in the country.

Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Harsh Vardhan continues to monitor and review the status, actions taken and future preparedness of the States as well as the Union Territories. Also, Secretary (HFW) is reviewing the situation with States/UTs on a regular basis.

The Health Ministry further appealed to the people to follow the Do's and Don'ts, coughing etiquette, hand-washing and avoid large gatherings, in the wake of rising cases of coronavirus in India.