New Delhi: India Tuesday reported its third coronavirus death in Maharashtra. The patient was a 63-year-old man who passed away at Mumbai’s Kasturba Hospital.
According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the man was in a private hospital for five days before he was referred to the Kasturba Hospital, Mumbai. He had a travel history to Dubai, which he reportedly did not disclose at the time of his admission to the private hospital.
His wife also tested positive for COVID-19 and is stable, the ministry added.
The death is the first from Maharashtra, which, at 39, has the highest number of reported cases in the country.
The total number of active cases also rose Tuesday morning, going up to 126 after fresh cases were reported from several states.
Delhi has so far reported seven positive cases while Uttar Pradesh has recorded 13 cases including one foreigner.
Karnataka has eight coronavirus patients, Ladakh four and Jammu & Kashmir three. Telangana reported four cases.
Odhisha reported its first case on Monday.
News reports state that over 52,000 people who came in contact with the 126 positive cases have been identified through contact tracing and are under vigorous surveillance.
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The earlier deaths were of a 76-year-old man from Kalaburgi (Karnataka) who returned from Saudi Arabia and a 68-year-old woman who passed away at Delhi’s Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.
The Modi government has proposed a set of social distancing measures to be in force till 31 March and even pledged $10 million to an emergency fund for SAARC nations to tackle the outbreak. The Delhi government on Monday announced the closure of all nightclubs, gyms and spas till 31 March and restricted public gatherings to 50 people. The government also appealed to people to consider postponing events such as weddings in a bid to contain the spread of the virus.
The Centre has suspended all tourist visas till 15 April and in a revised travel advisory issued Tuesday, banned entry of passengers from Afghanistan, Philippines and Malaysia to India with immediate effect.
Globally, the total number of cases has risen to more than 1.82 lakh.