IT News
Mumbai, March 23
A steep hike by 15 cases of coronavirus, was registered, with total tally of “covid 19” positive cases reaching 89, even as a lock down was imposed in urban areas in Maharashtra on Monday.
The death toll across the country rose to 8 with a Philippines man passing away after initial recovery in Mumbai on Monday. The countrywide death toll stood as- Karnataka 1, Delhi 1, Maharashtra 3 ( including two earlier cases and the death of a 68-year-old man from the Philippines in Mumbai on Monday), Punjab 1, Bihar 1 and Gujarat one. Total =8.
In Maharashtra, out of 15 patients, 14 patients were admitted to Mumbai hospitals, while one patient was admitted to a Pune hospital, Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope said and added that the two patients in Mumbai have been admitted to ICU.
In another development, production of printing currency notes was stopped at India Security Press in Nashik in Maharashtra till further notice and 4000 odd employees were directed to remain home and standby to resume work, after normalization of situation. The ordnance depot at Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh has already been locked down till 24 March, 2020. Due to coronavirus scare newspaper vendors stopped home delivery of daily morning newspapers in Mumbai from Monday.
While Maharashtra government shut its borders with neighbouring Goa, the Gujarat government shut its border with Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra in the wake of novel coronavirus outbreak.
Total number of positive coronavirus cases in the country on Monday morning rose to 415 (69 new cases in 14 states) and Bihar became 22 nd state to be affected by Covid 9 with three confirmed cases and one death on Sunday.
Maharashtra has reported the highest number of Covid-19 cases at 89, followed by Kerala at 52. Delhi has reported 30 positive cases, while Uttar Pradesh has recorded 27 cases. Telangana has reported 22 cases, Rajasthan 24, and Karnataka 26 patients.
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi on twitter lamented that Many people are not taking lockdown seriously, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray too expressed concern with presence of vehicles in large number plying on streets on Monday morning.
Equity indices plunged on Monday with bench mark Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) sensex diving more than 3500 points as the lockdowns escalated. Earlier trading was halted for 45 minutes after sensex plunged by 3000 points. After trading resumed the sensex fell by 3500 points and Nifty below 7750 levels.
The 263 Indian students evacuated from Rome by a special Air India flight were sent to ITBP Chhawla Quarantine Facility on Monday.
Meanwhile, the disease pandemic has continued to spread in locked-down Italy, with the total cumulative number of infected cases reaching 59,138 and deaths 5,476. Globally, more than 341,234 people have contracted the novel coronavirus and at least 14,746 have died.
