With as many as 75 fresh cases being reported on Friday, the number of COVID-19 positive persons in the country stood at 236, the ICMR said.
Of these 32 are foreigners and 23 persons had been discharged after treatment. Previously, the Government had informed the Lok Sabha that 276 Indians had tested positive for the deadly disease abroad.
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Several States have imposed prohibitory orders to deal with the pandemic, more trains were cancelled as the country went into a semi-lock down mode.
In an advisory to hospitals and medical institutions, the Union Health Ministry said all pneumonia patients must be notified to the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme so that they can be tested for COVID-19. It added that no suspected COVID-19 patient should be turned away from any hospital, and the admission of any such patient should be notified immediately. Senior Health Ministry officials also noted that they may now soon rope-in private labs for COVID-19 testing with a capping price for testing at ₹5000, which is subjected to review.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a video-conference with Chief Ministers and said the COVID-19 Economic Response Task Force would devise a suitable approach to effectively tackling the economic challenge.
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He advised Chief Ministers to ensure that all steps are taken and all advisories are adhered to in order to ensure the safety of citizens.
“No stone should be left unturned in our common endeavors to fight COVID-19,” an official release quoted Mr. Modi as saying. As the number of cases in Maharashtra rose to 52, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray called for more testing laboratories during the meeting with the Prime Minister.
The new cases were in Mumbai, Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad.
In Kerala 12 new cases, including five Britishers, were reported, taking the total number of cases to 37 even as more than 44,000 persons are under observation, Chief Min