Coronavirus Updates: 85 Trains Cancelled Over COVID-19 Crisis; Bengal, Haryana Report First Cases

Coronavirus in India: As per an update by Health Ministry at 05:15 PM on Tuesday, the total number of active COVID 2019 cases across India including foreign nationals, is 120.

Chennai: Passengers wear masks to mitigate the coronavirus pandemic at the airport, Tuesday, March 17, 2020. Several flights have been cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak. (PTI Photo/R Senthil Kumar)

New Delhi: As several new cases of novel coronavirus COVID-19 were detected from different states on Tuesday incluidng Haryana and West Bengal, the total count of cases in India rose to 147 on Wednesday. The total count includes the three fatalities in Delhi, Karnataka and Maharashtra. So far the government has screened 13,54,858 passengers at airports. Total number of Discharged/Cured COVID 2019 cases across India is 14. Railways cancels 85 trains amid crisis Following coronavirus outbreak, the Indian Railways on Tuesday cancelled 85 trains due to low occupancy in different zones from March 18 to April 1. A senior Railway Ministry official said the decision to cancel the trains was taken in view of the low occupancy amid the coronavirus outbreak in several states. The railway official said Central Railway cancelled 23 trains, followed by South Central Railway cancelling 29 trains, Western Railways cancelling 10 trains, northern Railways five, North Western Railways four, East Coast Railways five and South Eastern Railways cancelling nine trains from March 18 to April 1. First confirmed case of coronavirus in Bengal The first confirmed novel coronavirus case was detected in West Bengal on Tuesday, as a youth who returned from the UK recently tested positive. He has a sore throat and slight cold, and was being given supportive treatment for the symptoms. The 18 year old youth, who came back from the UK on March 15, was admitted to the state's referral hospital for infectious diseases ID Hospital, Beliaghata, on Tuesday morning. His sample, sent to the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED), was found to be positive in the evening. Soon after receiving the test report, the hospital and state health department officials transferred him to a special air-conditioned isolation cabin earmarked for confirmed coronavirus cases. His sample has also been sent to the National Institute of Virology, Pune, for reconfirmation. His parents and driver were also being brought to the ID hospital for quarantine. According to health department officials, their samples would be sent to NICED on Tuesday night itself. Haryana's first case  A 29-year-old woman in Haryana's Gurugram who has travel history to Malaysia and Indonesia tested positive for coronavirus, a top health official said on Tuesday. Her condition is stable. The woman works for an Gurugram-based information technology company. "This is the first positive case of the coronavirus in Haryana," state Director General of Health Suraj Bhan Kamboj told the media. Jaishankar thanks Delhi airport officials for exceptional effort in 'difficult times' External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday night visited the Delhi airport to meet immigration, health, security and airport officials who are responding to the challenge posed by coronavirus outbreak. "India works because countless Indians do. Night or day, rain or shine," Jaishankar tweeted after visiting the airport. "Went tonight to meet our immigration, health, security and airport officials at Delhi Airport who are responding to COVID challenge," he said. Jaishankar thanked them for their exceptional effort in these "difficult times". "That too, with great courtesy and a warm smile," he added. Delhi Police urges Shaheen Bagh protestors to end demonstration In the wake of novel coronavirus outbreak, the Delhi Police on Tuesday said that they held a meeting with protesters at Shaheen Bagh and urged them to end their demonstration Police said that they held a meeting on Monday also regarding the same issue but nothing came out of it. "We have conducted a meeting on Tuesday to the protesters. We urged them to end their protest after the outbreak of coronavirus. We held a meeting on Monday also but nothing positive has come out of the meetings," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) (DCP) R P Meena said. However, the protesters claimed that police only spoke to some 10 to 15 people and did not come to the place where they were sitting.