Coronavirus in India live updates: Total number of cases in Delhi rises to 27

New data emerging from Wuhan in China, the epicenter of Covid-19, has shown that patients continue to ‘shed’ the coronavirus between eight and 37 days of contracting it, but WHO has recommended a quarantine period of 14 days. However, local virologists feel the ‘viral shedding’ ceases to be a danger after a fortnight. “It’s possible that one may have the virus even after a month but that doesn’t mean the person is infectious. That phase perhaps is over by 10-14 days,” said noted virologist Dr T Jacob John.

It’s 8am at an upscale housing society in central Mumbai. As an army of cooks, sweepers and babysitters troop in and sanitize their hands at the entrance, they confront the latest irony. While there is a wave of paranoia about the hygiene standards of maids, given their cramped homes and peak-hour commutes, the first domestic help reported with Covid-19 in Mumbai got the ailment from her US-returned employer. “I feel scared because people living in this building have travelled abroad and that’s how the disease came,” said Asha Katkar (name changed) who sweeps and swabs in four homes. Asha takes the train from Kalyan which remains packed, although the crowd has reduced. The current situation worries her too, but she has little choice. Her husband is an alcoholic and she has two school. “I make Rs 17,000 a month. I run the house and pay my children’s fees,” she said.

The use of all forms of public transport is set to drop to 50% by the weekend, transport sources said on Thursday going by falling ridership on account of Covid-19. On the third day of the 50% office staffing rule, ridership on BEST was down 40%, and on both Central and Western Railway down 30-40%. On Metro, the drop was 45%. On Wednesday, the drops for BEST and local trains were in the 20-27% range. Ironically, despite losing commuters, BEST buses completed more rides and ran punctually because several roads were free of congestion as a significant population of motorists and bikers stayed home. But peakhour traffic was a different matter, especially on arterial routes.

For the second consecutive day, as many as 17 persons with ‘home quarantine’ stamps on their hands were forced off three long-distance trains from the city, prompting home minister Anil Deshmukh to warn of action under the epidemic law invoked in the state. The Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, empowers the state to take extraordinary steps to arrest an outbreak and it can be invoked against those violating the home quarantine instructions. Under the Act, violation of official orders can result in six months in jail and a fine of Rs 1,000 or both.

With the state reporting three new cases on Thursday, the total number of coronavirus patients in Maharashtra went up to 48. Mumbai reported a new case of a 22-year-old Mulundbased woman with a travel history to the UK, taking the city’s count to 9 so far. The second case was from Ulhasnagar, of a 49-year-old female who had travelled to Dubai, and the third was of a 51-yearold from Ahmednagar who had been to Dubai with his wife. The wife has tested negative. Ahmednagar had reported one case earlier too.

With two more people testing positive for Covid-19 in Tamil Nadu in the last two days, temples across the state have cancelled their annual festivals to prevent people from gathering in large numbers. The Tamil months of Panguni and Chitharai (March-April) are famous for festivals across the state, when temple chariots are taken around temples with hundreds of devotees in attendance. “The Panguni Uthiram festival, on April 6, is being cancelled based on the health department’s advisory. Palani and other five other Murugan temples will also cancel the festival,” a Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment (HR&CE) department official said. It is traditionally celebrated as a marriage festival at Murugan temples.

While a group of health workers were combing through the streets of a residential colony in the city to track contacts of 20-year-old patient who tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday, another group of officials were using technology to track mobile numbers of passengers who travelled with him in the reserved compartment of the Delhi-Chennai Tamil Nadu Express that reached Chennai on March 12 and other places he travelled within Chennai until he got himself admitted to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital on March 17.

Protected by a mask on his face and a green vest over his shirt, M Venkatesan, holding a register, set off through the alleys of Arumbakkam in central Chennai, ringing doorbells and watching out for dogs before opening gates to apartment complexes to gathering data on residents suffering from fever or any other communicable diseases. A domestic breeding checker (DBC) with the city corporation, Anna Nagar zone, the 30-year-old has been doing it for eight years. On Thursday morning, his job had greater significance. Venkatesan visited residents living within a 100m radius of the house in which Tamil Nadu’s second Covid-19 positive case stayed.

As the country battles coronavirus, couples are forced to rethink one of the most important days of their lives. Recently, a Mumbai family made headlines after the bride’s parents cancelled the wedding as a precaution. Elsewhere across the country too, couples are taking cue by calling off their weddings, cutting guest lists and conducting the main nuptial ceremony in the presence of close family members only, putting off bigger celebrations and gatherings. Vivek Anand, who heads operations at Nandambakkam-based Epic Wedding Planning Company, had to make two last-minute wedding cancellations this month.

Authorities at the city airport screening passengers arriving from infected countries are letting pilots and cabin crew go without checks. Airline crew say they don’t enjoy the privilege because they don’t want to fall ill or pass on the virus to their families and others who they closely interact with.

Tamil Nadu has ordered a lockdown of sorts from Friday after a third person, a 21-year-old student who flew in to Chennai from Dublin in Ireland, tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday. He is at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital. All large retail textile and jewellery showrooms with centralized airconditioning have been ordered to stay shut from Friday till March 31. Special arrangements would be made for people to pick up jewellery they had already ordered.

With hand sanitisers much in demand, the Karnataka Brewers and Distilleries Association offered to manufacture an alcoholbased sanitiser and supply it free of cost to hospitals and other healthcare units. However, the government is yet to respond even after four days. The association on Thursday wrote to the excise department, stating that the manufacture and supply can be done as part of corporate social responsibility and urged it to greenlight it on humanitarian grounds. Breweries and perfumeries in several Covid-affected nations in the United States and Europe are now manufacturing sanitisers.

Working professionals have started offering paid leave to domestic helpers to minimise infection risks on all sides. The helpers can keep themselves safe by staying home without losing their job or income. And their employers, who are not going to office, logging in remotely instead, can further reduce outside contact and have greater control over the indoor environment.

Since many of those who have returned from abroad are violating Covid-19 home isolation protocols and endangering lives of others, the state government on Thursday warned such violators will be booked under the Epidemic Diseases Act-1897 and other regulations. “Home quarantine means the person has to mandatorily be in isolation for 14 days. This is mandated to ensure the virus is not spread to others. But some people are attending parties, eating in restaurants and visiting friends and relatives. This is a serious offence,” warned health department officials.

Medical staff tending to positive and suspected Covid-19 patients also undergo tests at regular intervals to ensure they are safe and healthy to continue tackling the crisis efficiently and they don’t inadvertently put others at risk. Many have minimised contact with family members, waiting till test reports confirm they have not picked up the infection.

A Chinese tourist, who arrived in in Kottigehara on a bike registered in Maharashtra, caused panic in the small town in Mudigere taluk, Chikkamagaluru district on Wednesday night. The man was denied a room in all the local lodges despite having a certificate giving him a clean bill of health. With people too wary of taking him in owing to the coronavirus scare, he stayed in a tent which he had brought with him, pitching it near a fuel bunk on the Mangaluru-Mudigere Road.

The Kodagu administration clamped prohibitory orders on the coffee district after a 35-year-old man who had travelled to Dubai became Karnataka’s 15th Covid-19 patient on Thursday. After he arrived at Kempegowda International Airport on March 15, he cleared the screening test and took a bus to Kodagu. He developed symptoms on March 17 and was admitted to the isolation ward of a Madikeri hospital.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the coronavirus pandemic had severely affected the economy and keeping mind the challenges posed by the outbreak, a task force headed by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had been set up to meet the challenge. The PM said the ‘Covid-19 Economic Response Task Force’ will consult stakeholders and take feedback, on the basis of which decisions will be taken to meet the economic challenges which he said might be prolonged.

Dirty toilets, unhygienic environment and a congested ward at the government hospital in Sonipat forced a patient to opt for self-quarantine at home. This is despite the state government declaring Covid-19 a pandemic and introducing a host of social distancing and testing measures across the state. On Saturday, when a 25-year-old man returned from Germany, he went through thermal screening at the Delhi airport. While the initial observations did not raise any alarms, the youth was advised to get tested at a government-approved centre.

In Himachal Pradesh, so far all eight suspected samples of suspected COVID-19 patients have been negative. In the state, total 746 people are under surveillance who have the history of travelling to Covid-19 affected countries. Out of total 746 people under surveillance, maximum 416 people are under surveillance in Kangra district, Shimla 120, Bilaspur 20, Chamba seven, Hamirpur 37, Kullu 10, Mandi 31, Sirmaur 24, Solan 60 and Una 21. In the state facility to test the suspected samples are being provided at Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital in Shimla, and Dr Rajendra Prasad Medical College and Hospital Tanda in Kangra.