NEW DELHI, March 5 - A man from Ghaziabad with a recent travel history to Iran has tested positive for novel coronavirus in Ghaziabad, taking the total number of cases in the country to 30 as the government on Thursday asked states to form rapid response teams at district, block and village levels.
In some relief for Telangana, blood samples of two persons from the state which were sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune for confirmation tested negative.
Till Wednesday, 29 people, including 16 Italian tourists, tested positive for coronavirus. The list includes the first three cases in the country from Kerala last month. The three persons have been discharged following recovery.
Meanwhile, five people who came in contact with the Paytm employee who works in Gurgaon and lives in west Delhi have been tested and quarantined till their results come in, Delhi government health officials said.
The Paytm employee, who tested positive for the contagious disease with flu like symptoms on Wednesday, came in touch with 91 people in Gurgaon, an official said, citing his counterpart in the suburban town.
Delhi government health officials are also coordinating with their counterparts in Noida to ascertain the number of people he came in contact with.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia announced that all primary schools in the national capital will remain closed till March 31 to prevent the possibility of spread of coronavirus.
The outbreak also cast a shadow on the India-EU summit which was slated to be held later this month and will now be rescheduled.
According to MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar, India and EU decided to reschedule Prime Minister Narendra Modi�s visit to Brussels in view of the advice by health authorities.
Kumar also said that no case of any Indian being affected by coronavirus in Iran has emerged and Indian embassies across the world are on the job to help Indians.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said an Indian medical team is in Iran and the authorities here are working on the logistics with their Iranian counterparts for the return of the Indians stranded there in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak in the country.
He said the Indian medical team was likely to set up its first clinic at Qom to start screening for coronavirus.
Health Minister Harsh Vardhan sought to allay fears saying the government is taking all steps to prevent spread of coronavirus and the scale of interventions has been increased in alignment with the evolving situation in India where 28,529 people have been brought under community surveillance and monitoring.
Making a suo motu statement first in Rajya Sabha and then in Lok Sabha on steps taken to contain the virus, he said as on March 4, 29 positive cases have been reported in the country. � PTI
