New Delhi | Jagran News Desk: The total number confirmed COVID-19 cases reached 151 on Wednesday in India, with 3 casualties being reported so far in the country. The total tally of 151 includes 25 foreign nationals and the three persons who died after getting the infection, which has killed 7,500 people globally and infected nearly 200,000 others.
The Indian Army also reported its first case of coronavirus after a 34-year-old soldier of Ladakh Scout regiment tested positive for the COVID-19, prompting the force to strengthen its check and prevention mechanism and suspend war games and training activities.
Meanwhile, in a written reply in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said the total number of Indians infected by coronavirus abroad is 276 -- 255 in Iran, 12 in UAE, five in Italy, and one each in Hong Kong, Kuwait, Rwanda and Sri Lanka.
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Here are the top 10 developments on coronavirus today:
1. Senior railway officials inform the parliamentary panel that more than 60 per cent tickets were cancelled in March due to coronavirus outbreak. Earlier on Tuesday, the Indian Railways raised the price of platform tickets from Rs 10 to Rs 50 at around 250 stations across six divisions, including Mumbai, Pune, Ratlam, Ahmedabad, Rajkot and others till further orders, in order to reduce the footfall in railway stations.
2. The Rajasthan High court defers elections for the six newly formed municipal corporations in the state for six weeks on grounds of coronavirus outbreak.
3. A 34-year-old soldier from the Ladakh Scout regiment tested positive for the infection, army sources said, adding the soldier, a resident of Chuhot village in Leh, came in contact with his father, who had returned from a pilgrimage in Iran by an Air India flight on February 20 and tested positive for COVID-19.
4. While there were 14 fresh cases of coronavirus cases reported since Tuesday, the first case in the armed forces prompted the army to further strengthen its check and prevention mechanism by taking additional steps, including checking soldiers for flu symptoms on their return from leave and cancelling non-essential travel and conferences. The army also announced the suspension of wargames, conferences and training activities.
5. Union health minister Harsh Vardhan directed teams to visit quarantine facilities to assess and monitor amenities as the ministry maintained that over 5,700 people, who had come in contact with these positive cases, are under rigorous surveillance.
6. Meanwhile, BJP MP Suresh Prabhu quarantined himself at his residence for the next 14 days after he returned from Saudi Arabia despite testing negative for the infection. Earlier, Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan on Tuesday announced that he has quarantined himself at his residence in the national capital as a precautionary measure after a medical institute he had visited recently in south India reported a COVID-19 case.
7. Giving the details of Indians in Iran, one of the worst affected countries by the coronavirus, Muraleedharan in his written reply said the nationals include about 1,100 pilgrims mainly from Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir and Maharashtra. There are also nearly 300 students primarily from J&K, about 1,000 fishermen, including from Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, and others who are on a long-term stay in Iran for pursuing their livelihood and religious studies, he added.
8. A team of six Indian health officials has been deputed to Iran in order to set up testing and sampling facilities there, he said. Muraleedharan said 1,706 samples have been taken, including from pilgrims, students and other Indians stranded in Iran. These are tested at medical facilities including the National Institute of Virology, Pune, he said.
9. With schools across several states closed, the Supreme Court took suo motu cognizance of the non-availability of mid-day meals and issued notices to the states and union territories asking them how children were being provided mid-day meals amid the shutdown.
10. The Yogi Adityanath-led UP government also announced that students of classes one to eight of all government primary schools in UP will get promoted without having to appear in examinations due to coronavirus outbreak.