Three foreigners test positive for coronavirus in Tamil Nadu, state count 6
All affected foreign nationals have been placed under observation.
By : migrator
Update: 2020-03-21 14:38 GMT
Chennai
Three foreign nationals under observation have tested positive for coronavirus on Friday, taking the total number of cases to six in Tamil Nadu, State Health Minister C Vijaya Baskar said.
Two Thailand nationals and one from New Zealand tested positive on Saturday. The minister pointed out that all the affected people are foreign nationals with history of travel. "No signs of community transmission. New cases are already quarantined & in our radar. Screening is more intensified at all ports of arrival including Railways and interstate borders," he tweeted.
The Health minister said all the six positive cases reported were "imported cases from different regions with travel history and not community transmitted."
"New cases were already quarantined and in our radar," he said.
Screening has been stepped up at all ports of arrival including Railways besides domestic arrivals at the airport and inter-state borders.
According to the Health department on March 7, the state reported its first confirmed COVID-19 case, a 45-year-old engineer who returned from Oman.
However, he has recovered and was discharged from the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital here.
The other two confirmed cases are a 20-year-old man from New Delhi and a student from Dublin.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami has announced postponement of 10th standard board exams to April 15 in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
The Tamil Nadu government said bus and metro rail services in the state will be suspended on Sunday in view of 'Janta curfew' to control the spread of coronavirus.
In a statement, chief minister K Palaniswami appealed to the people of the state to not venture out of their houses unless it was "essential" while those above the age of 60 years should strictly remain indoors.
Government buses and metro rail services will not operate on March 22 in the state. Private transport operators and owners of mini-buses too have been asked to extend support and not operate their vehicles on that day, he said.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health has said that the total number of novel coronavirus cases, on Saturday, rose to 298 in India.
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