India has reported its fourth novel coronavirus death. The patient was from Punjab. As per Ministry of Health website, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has gone up to 173. The cases include 25 foreign nationals.

Out of the total positive cases, 20 people have been discharged after being cured of Coronavirus. So far over 14.31 lakh passengers have been screened at various airports in the country. The Government has scaled up the efforts to combat the challenge of COVID 19 outbreak in the country.

A meeting of Group of Ministers, GoM was held in New Delhi to discuss ways and means to contain and mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus. Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, Foreign Secretary Harsh V Shringla also attended the meeting. The high level meeting of the Group of Ministers is being held regularly to review the current status and actions for prevention and management of COVID-19.

Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research, Dr Balram Bhargava today said that no evidences of Community Transmission or Stage-III of Coronavirus infection have been reported so far in the country. Talking exclusively to AIR News, Dr Bhargava said, all tests received were negative and there is no evidence of community transmission as per these results. He said, further scale-up of tests is in progress.