New Delhi, March 13 The total number of COVID-19 cases in India touched 81 on Friday, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Lav Agarwal said.
"As of today, there are 81 confirmed cases of COVID19 in the country. Of these, 3 from Kerala were treated and discharged. In addition, seven more from Delhi's Safdarjung have also recovered."
According to the Health Ministry, of the confirmed cases, 64 are of Indian nationals, 16 Italian nationals and 1 Canadian national. Contact tracing of these cases is being actively pursued. So far, the process has led to identification of more than 4,000 contacts who have been kept under surveillance.
"A total of 25,504 passengers have been additionally screened at major and minor seaports, and more than 14 lakh people screened at land ports," said Agarwal.
The Indian government brought at least 42,296 passengers under community surveillance, out of which 2,559 were symptomatic and 522 hospitalized, including 17 foreign nationals.
In addition, at least 11,71,061 passengers have been screened from 10,876 flights at 30 designated airports. The Joint secretary also said that 3,062 passengers and 583 contacts were identified and referred to Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) and designated hospitals.
Sa far, 890 evacuees from COVID19 affected countries have been discharged after 14-day isolation and having tested negative as per protocols, said the ministry.
The government has facilitated return of Ind from coronavirus-hit countries such as China, Iran and Japan.
"India has spared no effort to get our people back from any major COVID-affected country. The Indian government has sent scientists, equipment for labs, reagents & brought back samples for testing from these countries," said Agarwal.
So far 1,199 samples have been collected in Iran and brought to India for testing.
The government has sent a team of four doctors from Health Ministry to Rome. The team has sufficient material and reagents to collect samples of Ind.
( With inputs from IANS )