As of 17 March, a total of 137 COVID-19 cases have been reported in India. They include 113 Indian nationals, 24 foreign nationals, 14 recovered and 3 deaths. So far, cases of COVID-19 have been reported from 15 States/UTs: Andhra Pradesh (1 case), Delhi (8 cases), Haryana (15 cases), Jammu & Kashmir (3 cases), Karnataka (11 cases), Ladakh (6 cases), Kerala (26 cases), Maharashtra (39 cases), Odisha (1 case), Punjab (1 case), Rajasthan (4 cases), Tamil Nadu (1 case), Telangana (5 cases), Uttar Pradesh (15 cases) and Uttarakhand (1 case). Hospital isolation of all confirmed cases, tracing and home quarantine of the contacts are ongoing.
The Prime Minister's Office, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) and Cabinet Secretary are closely monitoring the situation of COVID-19, invoking powers under The Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 to enhance preparedness and containment of the virus. State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), constituted under Section 48 (1) (a) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, is now available with State Governments for responding to COVID-19, which has been declared a notified disaster. Various measures have been taken by the Central Ministries along with States/UTs in terms of strengthened community surveillance, quarantine facilities, isolation wards, adequate PPEs, trained manpower, rapid response teams for management of COVID-19.
Travel of passengers from Afghanistan, Philippines, Malaysia to India has been prohibited with immediate effect. All passengers coming from European Union (27 countries), European Free Trade Association (4 countries), Turkey and United Kingdom have been prohibited from entering India from any of the Land/Air/Seaport ICPs. This restriction shall come into effect from 1200hrs GMT on March 18, 2020 at the port of first departure, and shall remain till March 31, 2020 and is a temporary measure. The earlier visa restrictions remain in force as per Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Universal Health Screening continue to be implemented at the designated health counters at all points of entry.