Indian Navy issues detailed statement as 21 INS Angre sailors test Covid positive

UPDATE: While initial report stated that 21 sailors tested positive, the number of Navy sailors who tested positive has now been updated to 26.  

As 21 sailors of the Indian Navy at INS Angre in Mumbai tested positive, the Navy has issued an official statement on Saturday. The Navy said that most of the cases were asymptomatic and have been traced to a single sailor who was tested positive on April 7. The sailors were deployed at INS Angre that is a support establishment under the Western Command in Mumbai.

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The Navy in its statement said that all primary contacts (though asymptomatic) were tested for COVID 19. It also said that all the sailors who tested positive resided in the same accommodation block at INS Angre. "Entire living block was immediately put under quarantine - containment zone and INS Angre too is under lockdown. All actions as per established COVID-19 protocol are being taken. There are no cases of infection onboard ships and submarines." The Navy ensured that it continues to actively support the national effort in the fight against COVID -19.

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Coronavirus crisis in India

The Health Ministry, in its daily briefing on Friday, informed that there have been 1007 new COVID-19 cases and 23 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the tally of confirmed cases and deaths to 13,387 and 437 respectively. While, 1749 patients have recovered, 260 in one day. 

Joint Secretary of Health Lav Agarwal also informed that the average growth rate of COVID-19 cases has declined by 40% from mid-March to now while the doubling rate of the disease has gone up to 6.2 days according to data of last seven days. The Ministry further informed that the doubling rate is lower than the national level in 19 States and Union Territories. The recovery rate of COVID-19 patients has also improved to 13.06%.

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"The average growth factor of cases has been 1.2 from April 1, while during March 15-31, the average growth factor was 2.1. This decline of 40% has occurred due to an increase in testing, including testing of SARI (severe acute respiratory illness) and ILI (influenza like illness) cases," Joint Secretary of Health Lav Agarwal said.

He added India has been doing better than others on outcome ratio — the ratio of the number of COVID-19 recoveries vs. number of deaths. "We are making efforts to further improve this ratio," the official said.

(Image Credits: Indian Navy Representational)

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