14 more coronavirus cases in Kerala, Karnataka, Pune; 58 Indians brought back from Iran

Fourteen more people have tested positive for coronavirus -- eight in Kerala and three each in Karnataka and Maharashtra, state authorities said on Tuesday as the number of such cases went up to 61 and amid the COVID-19 scare, a combination of two anti-HIV drugs was used for the first time in India in the treatment of two patients.

The health ministry said the total number of confirmed cases has risen to 50, adding the rest are being retested for confirmation. If the fresh cases declared by the state governments are taken into account, the figure goes up to 61.

In Karnataka, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said four persons have been confirmed for coronavirus, including three new cases. In Maharashtra's Pune also, three persons tested positive, a day after two cases were reported.

In the morning, 58 Indians were brought back home from coronavirus-hit Iran in a military transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

IAF spokesperson Group Captain Anupam Banerjee said the C-17 Globemaster aircraft evacuated 25 men, 31 women and two children. It also brought swab samples of 529 Indians to carry out laboratory tests and check whether they have coronavirus infection.

Those who returned have been quarantined at a medical facility in Hindon.

Announcing the latest cases in Kerala at a media interaction in Thiruvananthapuram after a special cabinet meeting held to discuss the coronavirus situation, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said at least 1,116 people are under observation -- 149 in isolation wards of various hospitals and 967 under home quarantine.

The fresh cases are friends and relatives of an Italy-returned couple and their son who had on Saturday tested positive for the deadly virus along with two other kin staying with them at their home in Rane in Pathanamthitta district, Health Minister KK Shailaja, who was also present, said.

The aged parents of the couple are among the six latest positive cases, she said.

Late in the night, Shailaja said two more confirmed cases were detected in Kerala with the parents of a three-year-old boy, who tested positive for COVID-19 in Kochi on Monday on the family's return from Italy, is the latest patients.

In Jaipur, the combination of lopinavir and ritonavir, both second-line HIV drugs, was administered on an elderly Italian couple undergoing treatment for Covid-19 at the SMS Hospital.

The Drug Controller General of India approved "restricted use" of these medications for treating those affected by novel coronavirus after the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) sought their emergency approval.

SMS Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr D S Meena said the Italian man and his wife had developed severe respiratory problems following which a decision was taken to put them on the combination of lopinavir and ritonavir.

According to officials, consent of the patients was taken before the drugs were administered.

This combination along with other drugs has been used in clinical trials in China, where coronavirus first emerged, and Thailand for treating Covid-19 patients.

In Karnataka, a software engineer who returned from the US on March 1 tested positive on Monday, becoming the first COVID-19 patient in the state.

According to health department officials, his wife and daughter too tested positive for the virus on Tuesday.

Another person, who had travelled from America via London and arrived in Bengaluru on March 8, also tested positive, they said.

State Health Minister Sriramulu said the family members of the four persons have been quarantined. Using a hashtag of #CoronaVirusOutBreak, the minister said, "I appeal to the people to make sure that this disease does not spread further."

A day after two persons related to each other tested positive for novel coronavirus in Pune, the Maharashtra health department said. This takes the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Pune district as well as in Maharashtra to five.

One of them is related to the two confirmed coronavirus patients and had returned from Dubai with them, while the other is the driver of the cab in which the family had travelled from the Mumbai airport to Pune, said district collector Naval Kishore Ram.

The condition of all of them was stable and they were undergoing treatment in the isolation ward of civic-run Naidu Hospital, he said.

After Mizoram, Manipur has shut its border with Myanmar indefinitely amid the novel coronavirus scare.

Neighbouring Mizoram had on Monday also sealed its borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh, and banned the entry of foreigners to prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

An official order, issued by Special Secretary (Home) H Gyan Prakash, said the Indo-Myanmar border in the Manipur sector would remain shut until further orders.

During the day, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan spoke to a few coronavirus patients admitted at Medanta and Safdarjung hospitals through video calls and said all the people infected by the disease were stable and showing signs of recovery.

He also called up health ministers of Delhi, Haryana, Kerala, Telangana, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh as well as Lt Governors of Ladakh, and Jammu & Kashmir to ascertain the status of the COVID-19 affected patients kept in isolation centres in hospitals, the health ministry said.

The Cabinet Secretary also held a high-level meeting with secretaries of the ministries and departments concerned to review the status, actions, preparedness and management of COVID-19 cases in the country.

After the meeting, the ministry issued an advisory urging all incoming international passengers returning to India to self-monitor their health and follow the recommended 'dos and don'ts', since more than 100 countries across the world now have reported cases of COVID-19 and travellers to these countries, or any person having travelled abroad, might possibly have come in contact with people affected during their stay there or even while in transit at airports. 

In Kerala, schools and colleges and cinemas will remain closed in the state till March 31. Classes 1 to 7 of all schools -- state, CBSE and ICSE boards -- will remain shut and examinations which have begun for them will be put on hold.

Examinations for class 10, class 12 and vocational higher secondary will, however, continue. Final examinations of class 8 and 9 also will proceed as usual.

Temple and church festivals, which witnesses mass gatherings should be avoided, but rituals can be held in a low key manner, Vijayan said.

As the hill temple, Lord Ayyappa at Sabarimala will reopen on March 13, monthly pujas can be held, but at this juncture devotees should avoid darshan, he said.

The coronavirus threat also cast a shadow on Holi celebrations which were subdued across the country

(Image courtesy: PTI)