Coronavirus / Rajasthan reports 40 new coronavirus cases, total reaches 383

Jaipur: Forty people tested positive for coronavirus in Rajasthan on Wednesday, taking the total number of COVID-19 cases in the state to 383, an official said.

The disease has claimed six lives in the state till now, but officials maintain that the deaths occurred due to comorbidity, which means more than one illness or disease occurring in a person at the same time.

Out of the 40 new cases of the virus, 23 were from Jaipur. The total number of COVID-19 cases in the Rajasthan capital now stands at 129.

"Forty new cases have come up today. One patient who tested positive today in Jaipur has no recent travel history," Additional Chief Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh said.

The 62-year-old patient, a resident of the city, was admitted at the SMS Hospital.

The patient has not given any recent travel or contact history. He is an employee of a private firm, the official said.

Singh said the man was referred from Kawantia Hospital to the SMS Hospital.

The rest of the people who tested COVID-19 positive either have links to Tablighi Jamaat congregation participants or had come in contact with positive cases with recent travel history, officials said.

The congregation took place in early March in Delhi's Nizamuddin area and several people who participated in the event got infected by the coronavirus.

They travelled across the country after attending the congregation.

Singh said intensive surveys are being conducted in Ramganj containment area.

A total of 266 teams have visited 22,022 houses and identified 83 influenza like illness cases after surveying 1,16,773 people.

"We will leave no stone unturned in ensuring that the situation in Ramganj improves," he said.

Health Minister Raghu Sharma said according to the census, Ramganj will be divided into clusters and samples will be taken daily and their PCR testing will be done.

This will allow accurate estimation of the number of corona infected people in the area, he said, adding that due to the dense population, ensuring social distancing in Ramganj is a difficult task.

The government is confident that in the coming days, the situation in Ramganj will improve, he added.

Sharma that till now about 5.75 crore people across the state have been surveyed and screened and 45 people have tested negative after treatment while 42 of them have been discharged.

Besides Jaipur, six cases were reported from Bikaner, five from Kota, three from Jhalawar and one each from Banswara, Jhunjhunu and Jodhpur.

Rajasthan is under lockdown from March 22 and massive surveys and screening is underway to trace COVID-19 cases.