More people have tested positive for coronavirus — eight in Kerala and three each in Karnataka and Maharashtra, state authorities said on Tuesday as the number of such cases went up to 62.
The health ministry said the total number of confirmed cases has risen to 62, adding the rest are being retested for confirmation.
In Karnataka, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said four persons have been confirmed for coronavirus, including three new cases. In Maharashtra’s Pune, three persons tested positive, a day after two cases were reported.
In the morning, 58 Indians were brought back home from coronavirus-hit Iran in a military transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF).
IAF spokesperson Group Captain Anupam Banerjee said the C-17 Globemaster aircraft evacuated 25 men, 31 women and two children. It also brought swab samples of 529 Indians to carry out laboratory tests and check whether they have coronavirus infection. Those who returned have been quarantined at a medical facility in Hindon.
Announcing the number of latest cases in Kerala after a special cabinet meeting held in Thiruvananthapuram to discuss the situation, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said at least 1,116 people are under observation — 149 in isolation wards of various hospitals and 967 under home quarantine.
The fresh cases are friends and relatives of an Italy-returned couple and their son who had on Saturday tested positive for the deadly virus along with two other kin staying with them at their home in Rane in Pathanamthitta district, said Health Minister KK Shailaja who was also present. She said the aged parents of the couple are among the six latest positive cases.
Late on Tuesday, Shailaja said two more confirmed cases were detected in Kerala with the parents of a three-year-old boy, who tested positive for COVID-19 in Kochi on Monday on the family’s return from Italy, being the latest patients.
In Kerala, schools and colleges and cinemas will remain closed in the state till March 31. Classes 1 to 7 of all schools — state, CBSE and ICSE boards — will remain shut and examinations which have begun for them will be put on hold. Examinations for class 10, class 12 and vocational higher secondary will, however, continue. Final examinations of class 8 and 9 also will proceed as usual.
Temple and church festivals, which witnesses mass gatherings should be avoided, but rituals can be held in a low key manner, Vijayan said.
As the hill temple Lord Ayyappa at Sabarimala will reopen on March 13, monthly pujas can be held, but at this juncture devotee should avoid darshan, he said.
In Jaipur, the combination of lopinavir and ritonavir, both second-line HIV drugs, was administered to an elderly Italian couple undergoing treatment for Covid-19 at the SMS Hospital. The Drug Controller General of India approved the “restricted use” of these medications for treating those affected by the novel coronavirus after the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) sought their emergency approval.
SMS Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr DS Meena said the Italian man and his wife had developed severe respiratory problems following which a decision was taken to put them on the combination. Officials said consent of the patients was taken before the drugs were administered.
