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Lucknow, March 3 (IANS): Uttar Pradesh Health Minister Jai Pratap Singh, on Tuesday confirmed six positive cases of novel coronavirus in Uttar Pradesh and said all of them have been shifted to Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital.
“A family went on a trip to Europe and after returning to India, they showed symptoms of deadly COVID-19. Soon after, the samples of 13 members of the family were taken. Out of them, six have been found positive,” the minister said.
All six, including two shoe exporters, belonging to Agra, have been shifted to Safdarjung hospital in Delhi, he added. The decision was taken after a close relative of the exporters, who too had visited Italy with them, tested positive for COVID-19 in Delhi. They had visited Italy last month.
According to health officials, the two exporters, who were brothers, had been kept in the isolation ward in district hospital since Monday after they had developed symptoms of the disease, including high fever and respiratory problems.
Their other family members had been advised to “quarantine” themselves at their home and their throat swabs were taken for testing.
Don’t panic, work together — Modi on coronavirus
Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged people not to panic and “work together” on a day six new suspected coronavirus cases were reported from Uttar Pradesh’s Agra.
“There is no need to panic. We need to work together, take small yet important measures to ensure self-protection,” Modi tweeted.
He also tweeted a poster highlighting basic hygiene like washing hands frequently and avoiding touching eyes, nose and mouth to prevent the spread of the virus.
A control room number is also provided in the tweet.
He also had an “extensive review” regarding the preparedness on the COVID-19. “Different ministries and states are working together, from screening people arriving in India to providing prompt medical attention,” tweeted Modi.
Earlier in the day, health concern was discussed between Modi and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal during a meeting in Parliament.
On Tuesday, six fresh cases of suspected coronavirus with high viral load was detected in Agra besides one in Lucknow. Apart from Uttar Pradesh, there is at least one case in Delhi, one in Telangana and one in Jaipur, where a traveller from Italy showed signs.
The Agra cases were detected during sample testing. Contact tracing of the persons, who have come in contact with these six persons, is also simultaneously being done through the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) network, informed the government.
The Ministry in a statement said: “One positive case of COVID-19 has been detected in New Delhi, and one has been detected in Telangana.”