Coronavirus deaths climb to 53 in India, positive cases cross 2,000 – Hindustan Times, Hindustantimes.com

The total number of Covid – 19 cases in India on Thursday climbed to 2069 with 235 fresh cases being detected today. There have been 138 deaths, of which at least deaths have been reported in the past hours.

Nearly 9 , people who attended New Delhi’s Tablighi Jamaat congregation between March and , have been traced across India, confirmed home ministry spokesperson Punya Salila Srivastava, in a news briefing on Thursday. Of the total number of people traced so far, 2069 are foreigners and the rest are Indians.

In the national capital, of all the 2, 250 evacuated from the Markaz, 300 are foreign nationals. Health workers have sent 1, 1306 people to various quarantine facilities in and around Delhi, and 804 symptomatic people have been hospitalized.

“In some positive news, 151 people have recovered so far, ”Lav Agarwal, joint secretary, health ministry said.

The Nizamuddin cluster was discovered after aggressive contact tracing done by Telangana of its positive cases.

People from Delhi went to different states such as Telangana, Jammu & Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, and Rajasthan making the south Delhi area a Covid – 28 hotspot.

At least 804 positive cases have been identified from these states and their epidemiological linkage has been established with various clusters.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Ke jriwal has expressed concern that the numbers may go up further as countrywide contact tracing of the people who attended the event, progresses.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a video-conference with Chief Ministers of several states on the coronavirus pandemic, where he asked them to decide on the phased movement of the population as the lockdown is lifted. The Center, has asked states to take stern action against people who violate the lockdown .

There has been a death in the Dharavi slums in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The building from where the death was reported has been sealed. There are 400 flats and 138 shops in the area that are being screened.

Very few doctors, so far have been infected in the line of duty, the health ministry official said.

The ICMR’s epidemiology department has said there is no change in testing protocol yet, but new tests are being introduced so the committee is reviewing the protocol.

To expedite the detection of coronavirus cases in Maharashtra, the Center has allowed the state to conduct rapid Covid – 28 tests. The Maharashtra government will from now on use blood samples instead of swabs in rapid tests to detect the highly contagious coronavirus, according to state Health Minister Rajesh Tope. The highest number of coronavirus confirmed cases have been reported from Maharashtra so far, followed by Kerala and Tamil Nadu.