Bihar government rushes to trace contacts of its first two Coronavirus positives

Sanjay Kumar, Principal Secretary (Health) of Bihar, remarked that the authorities are tracing contacts of the two positive cases in the state. The first two cases of coronavirus were reported in the state on Sunday, including the first death, of a man whose mortal remains had shown that he had the infection.

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Tracing contacts to identify cases

"Two COVID-19 positive cases in Bihar till now, both from Patna. One died due to renal failure. One of the family members of the second positive case has a travel history to Italy. The family member was in quarantine and showed no symptoms. We are tracing contacts of the cases,".

Speaking to ANI, Prabhat Kumar, a doctor at AIIMS Patna, said, "A 38-year-old man passed away in Bihar due to kidney failure has tested positive for COVID-19. He was from Munger and died yesterday at AIIMS in Patna. He had returned from Kolkata two days ago."

Two cases of coronavirus were reported in the state, with one being a 38-year-old man who died and the other being a person who had recently returned from Scotland and is currently admitted in Nalanda Medical College & Hospital (NMCH) and is undergoing treatment.

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At least 396 confirmed cases of the virus have been reported in India with seven reported deaths.

Multiple states across the country have taken up measures to contain the spread of the virus and have ordered a complete lockdown at least till March 31, with an extension likely. 

On Sunday afternoon, Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba and Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Pramod Kumar Mishra held a meeting with Chief Secretaries of all the States to review the situation regarding the outbreak of coronavirus.

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In the meeting, it was agreed that there is an urgent need to extend restrictions on the movement of non-essential passenger transport including inter-state transport buses till March 31. 

Soon after the discussion, numerous states have announced lockdowns till at least March 31, suspending all public transport services and non-essential services. The state governments were advised to issue appropriate orders to allow only essential services to operate in the 75 districts which have reported confirmed cases or casualties relating to COVID 19. The State Governments may expand the list depending on their assessment of the situation. Bihar has ordered a full lockdown, with Nitish Kumar also writing to the Ministry of Civil Aviation and demanding that all flights to Bihar be banned.  

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The Indian railways also cancelled all passenger trains till March 31 in order to mitigate the outbreak of Coronavirus. "No train except goods trains will run till 2400 hrs of March 31. However, a bare minimum of suburban services and the Kolkata Metro Rail service will continue to run till 2400 hours of March 22. Thereafter, these services will also be stopped till 2400 hours of March 31," a spokesperson of the Indian Railways said. 

(With ANI inputs)