First Case Reported In Indian Army
An Indian Army jawan from Ladakh Scouts tested positive for COVID-19. It is a local transmission as his father with travel history to Iran also tested positive for the virus. His father and he are being treated while his family including wife and sister have been put in quarantine.
WHO And UN Officials Test Positive
Two World Health Organization and one United Nations official have tested positive for COVID-19.
Police ask to shut pubs and dance bars in Mumbai amid the Coronavirus scare.
Pondicherry, Kolkata Confirm First Cases
First COVID-19 case was recorded in Kolkata. An 18-year-old who came back from UK on March 15 has tested positive. His parents and driver have also been quarantined.
Even the Union Territory of Puducherry reported its first case. A 68-year-old woman with travel history to Saudi Arabia who returned on March 13 tested positive for COVID-19
Gurugram Advises Corporates To Permit Work From Home
The District Magistrate of Gurugram issued an advisory asking major corporate companies to declare a work from home till March 31, 2020 after a woman tested positive for COVID-19 in the city.
Maharashtra Confirms 2 New Cases
The Health Ministry on March 17, 2020 confirmed two new cases of COVID-19 taking the count to 41 cases in Maharashtra.
Mumbai and Pimpri Chinchwad reported one new case each and both of them have travel history to the United States of America.
India's Cases Rise To 137
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare recorded 137 cases of COVID-19 on March 17,2020. Three people have died while 14 have recovered from the virus.
The Ministry has reported three new cases in Karnataka, two new in Ladakh, Kerala, and Uttar Pradesh, and one in Delhi, Rajasthan.
ICMR Says No Community Transmission So Far
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in a press conference on March 17, 2020 stated that they had received 500 results of the tests that they had carried out for community testing and all had come negative. These were patients admitted to various hospitals with respiratory conditions and no travel history. This suggests that there is no community transmission yet in the country.
Dr. Balram Bhargava, Director of the ICMR stated that there was no need for indiscriminate testing in the country and that people with travel history, people in close contact with those who have travelled and health workers should immediately get tested if they develop symptoms after self quarantining for a period of 14 days.
The ICMR has also stated that it has tested 11,500 samples till March 16, 2020 of which 137 have tested positive. The ICMR currently has 72 active laboratories with a capacity of testing 90 samples daily in each. Bhargava also stated that the capacity could be doubled if the need for testing arises. Another set of 49 labs linked to government medical colleges, CSIR, DBT, and DRDO are going to be operational in a few days.
The ICMR is going to begin the operations of 2 rapid diagnostic test centres in NCR and Bhubanseshwar which will have the capacity to test 1400 samples daily.
Currently, there is ample stock of reagents but the probes have to be ordered. One million probes have been ordered by the ICMR.
In terms of private laboratories starting conducting, the ICMR stated that they are interacting with a few laboratories but these labs will have to procure their own reagents and probes. These labs will have to contact trace and inform the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) about the cases and adhere to the ICMR guidelines of testing. These tests should have been prescribed by a qualified physician. The ICMR appealed to the labs, once operational to not charge for conducting the COVID-19 tests.
Central Railways Cancels Trains
The Central Railway on March 17, 2020 cancelled trains to contain the effects of coronavirus and non-occupancy of trains. The name of the trains cancelled are below:
Trains cancelled due #COVID19 preventive measure and non-occupancy. pic.twitter.com/NdGgrrR9Gv
— Central Railway (@Central_Railway) March 17, 2020
Philippines Became The First Country To Suspend Markets
The Philippines suspended trade on its local stock exchange Tuesday (March 17), becoming the first country to close its financial market over coronavirus fears.
President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday ordered most of the 55 million people on the main island of Luzon, which includes the capital Manila, to stay at home for the next month after social distancing measures failed to keep people away from one another reported AFP.