NEW DELHI, India—The Indian Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has today confirmed 28 positive cases of novel coronavirus in India. Out of these 28 cases, 25 have been witnessed in the last three days.
The 25 newly positive cases include one in Delhi, one in Telangana, 16 Italian tourists who landed in India on February 21 and their Indian driver; and six family contacts of the Delhi patient.
It is learnt that the Indian government is going to screen passengers from all countries rather than passengers of only 12 countries being screened currently.
“On conducting contact tracing of the person tested positive in Delhi, we came to know that he infected 6 members of his family who are in Agra,” informed Harsh Vardhan while addressing a press conference today.
Vardhan further informed that the 66 contacts of the New Delhi patient, who returned from Italy, and 88 contacts of the positive Telangana patient are being traced for quarantine.
Meanwhile, the Indian government has initiated a campaign to avoid mass gatherings. Indian PM Narendra Modi tweeted that he won’t participate in Holi Milan because doctors have advised avoiding mass gatherings on account of COVID19 build up.
Experts across the world have advised to reduce mass gatherings to avoid the spread of COVID-19 Novel Coronavirus. Hence, this year I have decided not to participate in any Holi Milan programme.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 4, 2020
