Three more test positive for COVID-19 in India, total cases now 34

Three more persons have tested positive for COVID-19, taking the total number of coronavirus affected patients in the country to 34 as on Saturday.

"The new cases include two from Ladakh with travel history to Iran and one from Tamil Nadu with travel history to Oman," a government release said.

31 cases are being treated in hospitals and are stable.

In addition, 108 samples have been received from Iran today morning. These samples are being tested at the laboratory in AIIMS. Also, six scientists from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) have been stationed in Iran. Equipment and reagents, worth approximately Rs 10 crore have been dispatched to enable them to set up a lab there.

A total of 7,26,122 persons from 7,108 flights have been screened at airports. Between yesterday morning and today, a total of 73,766 passengers from 573 flights have undergone screening at airports.

As many as 52 laboratories are now operational across the country for testing COVID-19 virus. An additional 57 laboratories have been provided with Viral Transport Media and swabs for sample collection.

In order to spread awareness, special COVID-19 mobile phone caller tune was launched by all telecom operators with basic infection prevention messages played when a caller dials-out. Over 117.2 crore subscribers of BSNL, MTNL Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vodafone-Idea are being progressively reached out to through SMSs and Call Backs.