Five more test positive for COVID-19 in Raj; total cases reach 59

Five people, including three of a family, tested positive for the new coronavirus in Rajasthan on Sunday, taking the total number of cases in the state to 59, an official said.

One of them is a 53-year-old woman with a heart condition who visited a private hospital in Bhilwara where a few doctors and nursing staff had tested positive for the virus.

The other is a 21-year-old resident of Jhunjhunu district. He had returned from the Philippines on March 18 and first arrived in Delhi and hired a taxi from there, Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Rohit Kumar Singh said, adding the man was in a quarantine facility and developed symptoms on March 26.

The rest three are of a family in Ajmer district. Another member of the family had tested positive on Saturday.

Singh said the total number of coronavirus positive patients in the state has risen to 59.

So far, 25 positive cases have been found in Bhilwara, followed by Jaipur (10), Jhunjhunu (7), Jodhpur (6), Ajmer (4), Pratapgarh and Dungarpur (2 each), Pali, Churu and Sikar (one each).

The state administration initially imposed a curfew and sealed the borders of Bhilwara and Jhunjhunu districts and the entire state was brought under lockdown on March 22.

Massive screening and survey of suspected people is underway in the state, officials said.

Medical and Health Minister Raghu Sharma said the screening of 2.5 crore members of 60.61 lakh families and about 25.5 lakh patients in OPDs has been done.

He said around 1,400 people who came in contact with positive cases till Saturday were screened by contact-tracing, samples of 200 of them were taken and they have been sent for investigation.

The medical minister said 55,400 quarantine beds have been identified against the target of providing 1 lakh quarantine facility and the process of purchasing ventilators has started.

He said Rajasthan has adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits and N-95 masks and instructions have been given to continue procurement for the protective gears.

Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Rohit Kumar Singh informed that a state-level drug supply control room (0141-2228600) has been set up by the state government to solve the problem of patients taking medicines regularly due to the lockdown. This control room will function from 9.30 am to 6 pm.

For supply of medicines, the patient will provided the mobile number of the nearest drugstore/firm to his residence. The drug dealers will supply the desired medicines including bills at their homes.