Coronavirus fear gets worse a day before Holi, total cases rise to 43

The cases of new coronavirus (COVID 19) infections continue to rise in India ahead of the festival of Holi on Tuesday. The Healthy Ministry has put the latest number of affected persons at 43, of which 40 cases are still active. Four new cases of COVID-19 have been reported - one from Ernakulum, Kerala, one from Delhi, one from Uttar Pradesh and one from Jammu, Health Ministry said on 9 March.

The 5 cases from Kerala reported yesterday are 3 family members with travel history to Italy and 2 of their relatives who came in contact with them. The family is reported to have visited relatives and attended few functions and their contacts are being traced, the ministry informed.

While 43 samples out of 3,003 samples tested for COVID-19 tested positive, 2,694 samples returned negative results.

The update also put the total number of international passengers screened at 8,74,708, from 8,255 flights at airports till March 9. Of those screened 1,921 passengers were identified as symptomatic, 177 of them hospitalised and 33,599 passengers were under observation, the ministry said. Till date, 21,867 passengers have completed their observation period.

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

The ministry also clarified that, so far no death has been reported due to COVID-19 in the country.

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