Leh/ New Delhi: One more person with travel history to Iran tested positive for coronavirus in Ladakh on Thursday, taking the total number of cases in the union territory to three, a senior government official said.
His family members have been moved to the isolation centre at Heart Foundation Hospital here, they said. The man was part of a group that had gone to Iran on a pilgrimage. Last week, two persons tested positive for the contagious virus in the union territory.
All the patients belong to Chushot Gongma area where people from a pilgrimage from Iran had returned back last month. The area has been cordoned off and all essential supplies are being provided to the villagers by the union territory administration, the official said. Zakir Hussain was confirmed positive of coronavirus. His father, Mohd Hadi is already admitted to SNM Hospital.
“Test of Zakir Hussain, son of Mohammad Hadi, came positive yesterday [Wednesday]. Six other family members have been quarantined and their samples have been sent to New Delhi,” Secretary, Health & Medical Education and Spokesperson of Ladakh UT administration Rigzin Sampheal said.
Meanwhile, report from New Delhi added that the number of coronavirus patients in the country has risen to 74 with 14 fresh cases, including nine from Maharahtra and one each from Delhi, Ladakh and Uttar Pradesh as well as one foreign national, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday. Giving a state-wise breakup, the ministry said Delhi reported six positive cases and Uttar Pradesh 10. Karnataka has four cases, Maharashtra 11 and Ladakh three.
Besides, Rajasthan, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab have reported one case each. Kerala has recorded 17 cases, including three patients who were discharged last month after they recovered from the infection declared a global pandemic. The total number of 74 confirmed cases includes 17 foreigners, 16 Italian tourists and one more foreigner whose nationality cannot be immediately ascertained, the ministry said.
As the contagious disease with flu-like symptoms spreads across the globe, the cabinet secretary has said states and Union Territories should invoke provisions of Section 2 of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 so all advisories issued by the Union health ministry and state governments are enforceable.
An Indian team of doctors will leave for Italy on Thursday to collect and bring swab samples of Indian students stranded there so that they can be tested before being brought back to the country, Health Ministry officials had said on Wednesday. It also said the government is undertaking measures to ensure safety and security of its citizens in Iran after it became clear that the country was facing a COVID-19 outbreak. Indian nationals in Iran include pilgrims, students and fishermen, the ministry said.
On March 7, 108 samples were received from Iran. These samples are being tested at the AIIMS laboratory. Also, six scientists from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) are stationed in Iran and have so far have collected swab samples of over 400 Indians stranded there. “The first batch of 58 evacuees from Iran has arrived on March 10 with 25 men, 31 women and 2 children on board. All evacuees are asymptomatic at present,” the ministry said.
India has evacuated 948 passengers from COVID-19 affected countries. Of these, 900 are Indian citizens and 48 from different nationalities, including from Maldives, Myanmar, Bangladesh, China, USA, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Nepal, South Africa and Peru, it said.
India has also suspended all visas, except a few categories such as diplomatic and employment, till April 15 in a bid to contain the coronavirus spread, according to a revised travel advisory. The suspension will come into effect from 1200 GMT on March 13 at the port of departure.
However, senior health ministry officials said on Thursday that it will take around one-and-a-half to two years for India to develop a vaccine for novel coronavirus even with expedited clinical trials. Raman R Gangakhedkar, head of the Epidemiology and Communicable Diseases-I (ECD-I), Division of ICMR said the National Institute of Virology in Pune has been successful in isolating the virus.
“There are two ways of going for vaccine preparation. One is either you look at the sequences of the gene which then may lead to development of antibodies, or you actually have the strain and then you try to develop a vaccine which is always an easier option,” he said.
“Coronavirus is difficult to isolate. But the efforts of scientists of National Institute of Virology (NIV) Pune have been successful and about 11 isolates of coronavirus are available which is a prime requisite for doing any kind of research related to viruses. Even with expedited clinical trials and approvals, it will take around one-and-a-half to two years to develop a vaccine,” Gangakhedkar asserted.
The official said the Indian government has made 52 laboratories functional for testing samples, while 57 labs have been designated for helping in sample collection for Covid-19 to enhance capacity for diagnosis and detection of the disease.
“We have around 1 lakh testing kits and additional kits have been ordered,” another health ministry official said. The health ministry on Thursday asked people not to panic in the wake of increasing number of coronavirus cases in the country saying the focus is on preventive approach and there are adequate facilities available for testing.
