New Delhi:
Even as Prime minister Narendra Modi imposed a nationwide a 21-day lockdown in an attempt to stall the spread of coronavirus lockdown, the country's total number of cases rose to 562 with 11 deaths, on Wednesday.
Tamil Nadu reported its first the death of a 54-year-old coronavirus patient.
The patient were admitted to the Rajaji Hospital in Madurai. He had a medical histrory of prolonged illness with "uncontrolled diabetes", confirmed state Health Minister C Vijayabaskar.
"Despite our best efforts, the COVID-19 positive patient at MDU, Rajaji Hospital, passed away… he had medical history of prolonged illness with steroid dependent COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), uncontrolled diabetes with hypertension," the health minister tweeted.
Six fresh cases were reported from Chennai on Tuesday. Five of them had a history of travelling to foreign countries. A One local person with no travel history was also infected by COVID-19 disease. A 65-year-old man, who had recently returned from New Zealand, tested positive for the coronavirus in Chennai. Patients were admitted to hospitals and the treatment had started, said the state health minister.
Maharashtra reported five new coronavirus cases since Tuesday night, taking the number of cases in the state to 112, the highest in the country so far, officials said.The latest cases are from Sangli district, where five members of a family in Islampur tested coronavirus positive, the officials said on Wednesday.
"We are checking if the five have a recent travel history within India or outside," an official said.
Ten more cases were detected in the state on Tuesday, and eight were confirmed late on Monday night.
Meanwhile,Pune-based Mylab Discovery Solutions is the first Indian company to receive commercial approval for its novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, testing kits.The testing kit has been approved by the Indian FDA/Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), the molecular diagnostics company said in a release.
One unit of the Mylab PathoDetect COVID-19 Qualitative PCR kit can test 1oo patients. The company said it can manufacture 1 lakh test kits a week, but can ramp up production if required.
The move will help increase testing in India, where the number of samples being tested is still small.
"With emphasis on ‘Make in India’ and support from local and central government, the COVID- 19 kit, has been made as per WHO/CDC guidelines. It was developed and evaluated in a record time," Hasmukh Rawal, Managing Director, Mylab Discovery Solutions, said.
The nation-wide lock-down restrictions came into force at midnight and will be in force for 21 days. The new measures follow a sharp increase in cases in recent days. India, which has a population of 1.3 billion, joins a growing list of countries that have imposed similar measures.
Scientists at Indian Council Medical Research (ICMR) said that the next three weeks are crucial for India to combat the spread of the virus.
ICMR said that social distancing is very important to fight against coronavirus.
According to a study by ICMR using a simple mathematical model of infectious disease transmission has revealed that that home quarantine of symptomatic can reduce the overall expected number of cases by 62 per cent and the peak number of cases by 89 per cent.
The report has also suggested that India ranks 17th among the countries at the highest risk of importation of COVID-19 through air travel. The probability of an infected air traveller to come to India as the final destination was 0.2%, with the highest relative import risk in Delhi (0.064%) followed by Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kochi.
According to ICMR, India has reported about 536 confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 and 10 deaths till date. The experts at the apex medical research body said that it is very important to break the chain of the virus to contain the spread of infection.
"If people would follow the implementation of lockdown and maintain social distancing, then we would be able to break the chain of the virus. The existing infections would be identified and people can be treated," Dr Raman R Gangakhedkar, a scientist at ICMR told ANI.
"Also infection would not multiply. This will help to break the COVID19 chain and flatten the curve of the disease outbreak," he said.
Most importantly, social distancing should also be followed among family members, he added.
Covid-19 has affected 421,413 people globally and 18,810 people have died from it across the world.