Jammu: 2 suspected of Coronavirus infection, primary schools to remain shut till March 31

Two individuals suspected to be infected with Coronavirus who were kept in isolation at Government Medical College, Jammu were "high viral-load cases", the Jammu and Kashmir administration said on Saturday, while announcing immediate closure of all primary schools in Jammu and Samba districts. It also suspended all biometric attendance in the Union territory.

"The test reports of the two suspected coronavirus patients were received, which spoke of them being high viral-load cases. There is a high probability of their testing positive for the infection," the spokesperson told PTI.

The passengers with travel history to Italy and South Korea were shifted to the quarantine ward at a government medical college hospital on Wednesday. Earlier on March 5, the two individuals had fled from the hospital last night putting the lives of thousands of others at risk. Their samples were sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune.

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PM Modi to meet Harsh Vardhan after 31 people test positive

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday to discuss the issue of Coronavirus which has become a global threat with 31 cases of the virus tested positive in India. The Health Minister will likely to brief PM Modi about the measures that have been taken by the government in the wake of the Coronavirus outbreak as well as 'standards of care' maintained in hospitals.

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Coronavirus outbreak

According to the latest reports, 53 new deaths in China due to Coronavirus have been confirmed, taking the total death toll to over 3,000. While most of the cases are from Hubei province of China and the city of Wuhan (the epicentre of the outbreak), other countries including Iran, Italy, Japan and the Philippines have also reported deaths related to novel coronavirus.

First detected in the city of Wuhan, in Hubei Province of China, the virus outbreak has now spread across 20 countries since December 2019. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has dubbed the virus as COVID-19. 

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