Coronavirus: Delhi tops people under surveillance; crisis in Kerala, Punjab too

Delhi, Kerala and Punjab account for over half of the cumulative number of over 25,000 passengers who are currently under health ministry's observation due to their possible contact history with people who have travelled from novel coronavirus (COVID 19) affected regions of the world.

However, only 37 of them have been hospitalised through integrated disease surveillance programme (IDSP) network, till March 3, it is learnt. As on March 4, India had 28 cases of COVID 19 positive patients including three who have already recovered.

It is known that the number of patients who are under observation in Delhi could be around 6000 while in Kerala and Punjab it would be around 4000 each. Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat together could account for another 6,000 persons are under community observation through the IDSP network.

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The health ministry is also taking stock of the preparations made by the various state governments to handle cases of suspected COVID 19 infections.

It is known that over 1,00,000 personal protection equipment (PPE) has been made available across the hospitals and institutions that are being readied to handle suspected coronavirus cases across states.

About the same number of PPE are also available as buffer stock. Close to 300,000 N95 face masks are also at their disposal, while double the volume is being readied as a buffer stock to handle any emergency.

As on March 3, about 1000 hospitals across the country are known to be designated as hospitals for isolation of suspected coronavirus patients. The cumulative bed strength of isolation wards in these hospitals are about 7500, at the moment, it is learnt.

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