With more than 50 coronavirus cases reported so far, Indian are on a panic mode, though there are repeated attempts by the government officials to pacify the general public. The governemnt has issued guidelines for the safety of Indias. As the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise, here’s a quick update on what is happening at the most effected states on the outbreak.
The first COVID-19 case in India was reported on January 30 in Kerala’s Thrissur district and by February 3, India had three confirmed COVID-19 cases. India did not see any new COVID-19 case for nearly a month until March 2 when two positive cases were reported in Delhi and Hyderabad.
Source: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
The major Indian states to get affected
Delhi
The national capital, since the past months has been kind of going through ‘bad times’ due to riots. Amidst the threat of riots, Delhi is also witnessesing the threat of coronavirus. With 5 confirmed cases of coronavirus, the Delhi government has ordered DTC and cluster buses, metro and hospitals to be disinfected on a regular basis as a precautionary measure to deal with the novel coronavirus. The Union health ministry has directed the authorities of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Jawaharlal Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Pondicherry to establish isolation beds facility for suspected COVID-19 patients.
Kerala
The first COVID-19 case in India was in Kerala’s Thrissur district. Three medical students from Wuhan were found to be positive for Covid-19, following which they recovered and have since left the isolation wards. However, since then more and more positive cases have been reported. With 17 cases reported as of 11th March, Kerala is on the verge of a shut down. Kerala has declared a health emergency in four districts. The state government thus has requested to Union government to open more testing facilities in Kerala to deal with the emergency situation. Kerala has closed down schools, cinema halls, banned public meetings, festivals and appealed the public to observe restraints in conducting family celebrations including marriages as a precautionary measure.
Uttar Pradesh
The number of cases reported from Uttar Pradesh has gone up to 9. Gearing up to tackle the situation, authorities have taken additional measures to strengthen surveillance in Agra and around. As part of additional measures, screening labs were also being set up in Sefai in Etawah, Aligarh and Varanasi. The doctors at the Pulmonary Medicine Department in the King George’s Medical University in Lucknow have constituted a rapid response team. Agra hotels, tourists’ sites have been instructed to report the arrival of visitors from Italy, Iran, China so that they can be screened for coronavirus infection.
