India witnesses third Coronavirus death; 64-year-old passes away in Mumbai

A 64-year-old man who was tested positive of Coronavirus in Mumbai, passed away on Monday at Kasturba Hospital, confirmed BMC commissioner Praveen Pardeshi. As per sources, the deceased was tested positive after returning from Dubai. 

Earlier, two deaths have been reported in Kalaburagi and West Delhi, making this the third Coronavirus death in India

Maha CM declares 'Coronavirus epidemic'

The Maharashtra government on Friday invoked the Epidemic Diseases Act declaring the Coronavirus as an epidemic, as announced by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. Informing the state assembly of the number of positive cases detected at that time, he declared all the schools to be shut in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad till further notice barring where 10th and 12th standard board exams are being conducted. Further, gyms, swimming pools and theatres in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane, Nagpur, Pimpri-Chinchwad have been shut till March 30. Subsequent to that, the state government has notified that offices mustn't work with over 50% attendance at any given time, in order to further 'social distancing'. 

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The Coronavirus outbreak

As of date, the total number of positive cases in India has soared over 125, including 17 foreign nationals. The maximum cases of the virus have been reported in Maharashtra and Kerala. The Centre has “strongly advised” Indians to avoid all non-essential travel abroad. The government is also monitoring all suspected cases and has issued preventive advisories. Earlier on Saturday, the Central government decided to treat the deadly virus as a "notified disaster", and has since issued even more advisories and travel restrictions.

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First detected in Wuhan in December 2019, COVID-19- the novel Coronavirus has affected nearly 148 countries in the world. Presently, there are around 182,609 confirmed cases of COVID-19 which has led to the death of around 7,171 people. As there is no vaccine or specific antiviral medicine to treat COVID-19 yet, countries have been grappling with all possible mechanisms to contain its scope. So far, China, South Korea, Italy, and Iran have witnessed the most number of confirmed cases of the Novel Coronavirus.

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