Coronavirus: Malaysia 'Worst-Hit' in Southeast Asia, Cases Rise to 428

New Delhi, March 16, 2020:

Malaysia has emerged as the worst-affected country by the novel coronavirus in the Southeast Asian region following the report of 190 new cases, with most linked to a religious event held at a mosque.

The event that was attended by 16,000 people from several countries is the new deal, which Malaysia is having to face in the wake of the dreaded disease. Malaysia's Health Ministry informed that the new cases have led to the rise in the confirmed coronavirus cases to 428.

243 cases have been linked to the mosque gathering with nine cases in critical condition in intensive care. All the event participants and their close contacts will also be placed under mandatory quarantine for fourteen days.

The health crisis has enveloped the entire world, with fresh confirmed cases, deaths as well as recovered cases.

India

India has recorded a total of 114 confirmed cases of coronavirus according to https://www.worldometers.info/ On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi did a video call with leaders of SAARC nations to discuss the Coronavirus outbreak and steps to control the spread of the deadly disease. Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted that India made special efforts to tackle the problem while reaching out to vulnerable groups. He said that the country's guiding mantra has been ‘prepare, but don’t panic’ in dealing with the coronavirus outbreak.

Most of the cases in India are from Maharashtra, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh with 32, 22 and 12 positive cases respectively. The number of active cases in Haryana is 14.

Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir also have 3 and 2 positive cases, respectively. Meanwhile, there have been no reports of any positive case from the Northeast region. The NE States have suspended cross-border passenger trains and buses to Bangladesh as a precautionary measure. Arunachal Pradesh, which shares a large porous border with China and Myanmar, was the first to close the border

Schools, gyms, swimming pools, etc have also been shut in the Northeast states along with the national capital, West Bengal, Maharashtra and a few others.

Assam government on Sunday issued a directive to shut all schools, colleges, universities, gyms, swimming pools and movie halls till March 29 as part of its preparation to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

China 

In China, which is the origin of the pandemic, reported that most of the new cases have resulted due to import from abroad.

Twelve more imported cases of coronavirus were reported on Monday morning. The country has tightened the quarantine measures for international arrivals to prevent its new wave of infections. According to the health officials, they had curbed the spread of the disease, however, they are now worried about an influx of infections arriving from other countries.

Beijing’s city government has ordered international arrivals from Monday onwards to go into quarantine facilities for fourteen days. A total of 123 cases from abroad have now been reported, with four of the 12 latest cases detected in Beijing. Imported cases have now outnumbered domestic infections as per reports.

Myanmar

Myanmar has imposed new restrictions to travelers who have recently visited France, Italy, Iran, Spain and Germany. They will be placed straight away placed in government quarantine facilities for fourteen days on arrival. It has also cancelled the Burmese New Year celebrations. It has reported no confirmed cases so far.

Bangladesh

Five confirmed cases have been reported from Bangladesh with 2314 quarantined and ten people kept in isolation wards. The Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) Director Prof Meerjady Sabrina Flora said that they have tested samples of 231 people so far. "The samples of 20 people were tested in the past 24 hours. So far, we've detected coronavirus infection among five people. Of them, two have been diagnosed with the disease anew," she said.

Bangladesh has imposed a ban on travellers from all European countries except the UK and other nations, which have already restricted their borders for the next couple of weeks.

Bhutan and Nepal have not yet reported any case of coronavirus. It may be mentioned here that US, Italy and Spain have declared emergency-like situation due to coronavirus. 6,818 people have died globally due to coronavirus. 169610 confirmed cases of coronavirus have been reported across the world. 5, 921 people are in critical condition (https://www.worldometers.info/)

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