Coronavirus Pandemic Highlights: Cases In India Cross 2000-Mark, Death Toll Reach 53

With more than 375 fresh positive cases of Coronavirus that emerged on Wednesday, the total number of infected persons in India has reached 2,069 with at least 53 deaths, according to the health ministry.

More than 900,000 cases of Coronavirus have been officially detected worldwide since the pandemic emerged in China late last year. Meanwhile, as the lockdown continues in India, the authorities are tracing all the members of Tablighi Jamaat who were part of the congregation in Nizamuddin last month. The Nizamuddin Tablighi Jamaat congregation has emerged as the biggest COVID-19 hotspot in India.

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10:00PM: 16 Haj houses across the country turned into quarantine centres for Cororonavirus cases: Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi 

9:50PM: A resident doctor of AIIMS who was tested positive for COVID19 earlier today, his 9 months pregnant wife (a doctor posted at Emergency) has also been tested positive. She has been isolated and her delivery will take place at AIIMS, ANI reported.

9:10PM: Total COVID19 positive cases in Delhi rises to 293 including 182 positive cases from Markaz Nizamuddin:  Delhi government

9:00PM: Total number of coronavirus cases in Madhya Pradesh has risen to 107 including 8 deaths: State Health Department.

8:10PM: In Maharashtra, 40 health workers of Shatabdi hospital in Kandivali have been quarantined after a patient undergoing treatment at the hospital was found to be COVID19 positive.

7:45PM: In the case of Tablighi Jamaat, Nizamuddin, 960 foreigners have been blacklisted and their tourist visas cancelled after they were found involved in activities related to Tablighi Jamat: Office of the Home Minister

7:40PM: The Indian Army's Snow Leopard Brigade on Thursday airlifted a pregnant woman stranded at Dawar, near Line of Control for last four days, to Srinagar for treatment. The critically ill woman is undergoing treatment at Lal Ded Hospital.

7:00PM: A pregnant woman from Kollam district is also among the 21 new COVID19 positive cases in Kerala: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan

6:45PM: Maharashtra COVID-19 tally now 416 as 81 more test coronavirus positive on Thursday: Health official.

6:42PM: Air India to operate 18 flights for citizens of Germany, Canada, France, and Ireland stranded in India, on request of concerned embassies. AI has entered into commercial contracts with these countries to run charter flights for their citizens. Flights to return to India empty: Air India CMD

6:40PM: Delhi government will provide a financial assistance of Rs 5,000 to each of the drivers of public transport vehicles including autos, taxis and e-rickshaws in the city rendered idle due to lockdown, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said

6:30PM: Global air passenger demand sees the steepest decline since 9/11: IATA 

6:15PM: Kerala reports 21 new COVID-19 cases, including 8 from the  worst-hit Kasaragod: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

6:10PM: As advised by the Centre, the Maharashtra government on Thursday identified 30 hospitals across the state which would treat only coronavirus patients.

6:00PM: Two people evacuated from Nizamuddin Markaz died due to coronavirus on Thursday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said.

In a digital press conference, he said of the 2,346 people evacuated from the Markaz, 108 have tested positive for coronavirus.

5:40PM: 130 crore Indians are united to defeat COVID-19: HM Amit Shah

5:38PM: Congress is playing petty politics over COVID-19 outbreak, high time it thinks about national interest and stops misleading people: Home Minister Amit Shah

5:35PM: PM Modi has allowed harvesting of the crops on the condition that social distancing is practiced by the farmworkers. Transportation of harvesting machines have also been exempted during the lockdown: Union Agriculture Minister, Narendra Tomar

5:30PM: Spain's coronavirus death toll tops 10,000 after a record 950 people died overnight, reports Reuters quoting Spain's Health Ministry

5:10PM: A CRPF Doctor who is a Chief Medical Officer residing in officers mess in Saket, Delhi has tested positive for COVID19. Staff and guests living in officers mess have been placed in quarantine. The officer has been sent to isolation ward. He is attached with ADG Medical, CRPF.

5:00PM: Till now, there are 219 COVID19 cases in the city including 108 people from Markaz Nizamuddin; Total 4 deaths including 2 people from Markaz Nizamuddin: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal

4:47PM: There are limited cases of doctors on duty testing COVID-19 positive; it is important to follow infection prevention control at hospitals: Health Ministry official. 

4:45PM: Orders have been placed for over 1.5 crore personal protective equipment (PPEs), the supply has already started: Health Ministry official. 

4:40PM: 328 new cases of COVID-19 and 12 new deaths reported since Wednesday: Health ministry official. 

4:18PM: Out of about 2,000 Tablighi Jamaat members in Delhi, 1,804 have been quarantined, 334 admitted to hospitals, says a Home Ministry official.

About 9,000 Tablighi Jamaat members and their contacts have been quarantined till now across country, according to the ministry.

4:15PM: A total of 32 people from Tripura attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi's Nizamuddin and all of them have now been quarantined along with their family members, an official said.

4:10PM: Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla has written to Chief Secretaries of all states asking them to take strict action on violation of lockdown measures. Anyone obstructing enforcement of lockdown could be punishable for jail term of up to 2 years.

3:35PM: Over 1400 people from Maharashtra attended the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi. Out of which, around 1300 have been traced till now and are being quarantined in Maharashtra. Their samples will be collected for COVID-19 testing, says State Health Minister Rajesh Tope.

3:20PM: An 85-year old coronavirus patient died in Jaipur in Rajasthan. The man died following a comorbid condition of brain stroke paralysis.

Further, 11 more people have tested positive for coronavirus, taking the total number of cases to 131 in Rajasthan including two Italians and 14 attendees of Tablighi Jamaat in Delhi, said State Health department

3:00PM: "As many as 391 persons who visited Markaz Nizamuddin (Delhi) have been traced and quarantined. 11 out of 91 persons who were tested in Bidar are COVID19 positive," says Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa.

2:35PM: A resident doctor of the Physiology Department of AIIMS, Delhi has tested positive for coronavirus. He is admitted to the new private ward for further evaluation and multiple testing. His family will also be screened, ANI reported citing sources.

2:25PM:  Air India temporarily suspended the contracts of around 200 pilots, who were re-employed after retirement, as all domestic and international commercial passenger flights have been suspended in the country till April 14 to curb the COVID-19 pandemic, a senior official said.

2:10PM: The Odisha government has readied two dedicated hospitals exclusively for coronavirus patients which were inaugurated by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday.

2:05PM: Dr JC Passey, Medical Director of Delhi's LNJPN Hospital in Delhi, says, "We have 216 COVID19 patients, out of which 188 belong to one group (attendees of Tablighi Jamaat event). We had received reports of 24 patients from the group out of which 23 tested positive. This is alarming."

He added, "Many of them (attendees of Tablighi Jamaat event) are objecting to testing and feel that they don't need admission. So, this has put the security of our staff at risk. Now, police have been deployed around three blocks where they have been kept."

1:55 PM: Exams of 7th and 8th standard (under Karnataka State Board) have been cancelled, children will be promoted to the next standard without exams: Suresh Kumar, Karnataka Primary & Secondary Education Minister

1:13 PM:  In an unending spree, 21 more cases of coronavirus were reported in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday, taking the overall tally to 132, officials said.

12:13 PM: All the 850 passengers on board the coronavirus-stricken Grand Princess cruise ship have completed their quarantine and departed the California-based Travis Air Force Base (AFB), it was announced.

12:20 PM:  An aggressive contact tracing campaign is underway in Jammu and Kashmir to contain the spread of coronavirus with nearly 2000 contacts of positive cases identified so far.

12:11 PM:  Amid the nationwide lockdown, the Defence Ministry announces that it is mobilising ex-servicemen (ESM) to assist the state and district administrations wherever required.

12:10 PM:  Emmy winner Adam Schlesinger, best known as the co-founder of the 2000s pop-rock band Fountains of Wayne, succumbs to COVID-19 complications.

12:09 PM: "We've 216 Coronavirus patients out of which 188 belong to one group (attendees of Tablighi Jamaat event). We had received reports of 24 patients from the group out of which 23 tested positive. This is alarming," says Kishore Singh, Director of Delhi's Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital.

12:01 PM: 52-year-old man died of coronavirus in Vadodara early Thursday morning, taking the
COVID-19 toll in Gujarat to seven, an official said.

11:38 AM: 65-year-old woman succumbs to coronavirus in Indore; Madhya Pradesh, say officials.

11:28 AM: An 85-year-old from Alwar, who had tested positive for COVID-19, has died. He had a comorbid condition, Rohit Kumar Singh, Additional Chief Secretary, Rajasthan Health Department said.

11:24 AM:  An aggressive contact tracing campaign is underway in Jammu and Kashmir to contain the spread of coronavirus with nearly 2000 contacts of positive cases identified so far, officials said.

10:29 AM: Death toll related to coronavirus touches 50, the total number of positive cases rise to 1,965 in the country, says Health Ministry official.

10:19 AM: Twelve more coronavirus patients have been found in Indore, taking the total number of such cases in Madhya Pradesh to 98, an official said on Thursday.

10:17 AM: A six-week-old baby girl has died of coronavirus in the US state of Connecticut, Governor Ned Lamont said on Thursday, stressing that the death is a reminder that "nobody is safe with this virus" as the COVID-19 cases there crossed 3,500.

10:16 AM: Three more positive cases of coronavirus have been detected in Maharashtra, taking the tally to 338, according to the State Health Department on Thursday.

10:15 AM: Haryana recorded its first COVID-19-related death as a 67-year-old man from Ambala died at the PGIMER here soon after testing positive for coronavirus, a senior health department official said on Thursday.