Virus Toll Touches 5; Gujarat, Chhattisgarh Report First Cases

Ban on all international passenger flights from March 22-29

Two more Indian nationals succumbed to COVID-19 on Thursday — one in Punjab and the other in Iran — taking the death toll to five on a day the government announced a total ban on flights by scheduled international passenger aircraft at Indian airports from March 22 to 29.

Globally, the number of deaths due to the epidemic crossed 9,200, while the number of cases rose to over 2,25,000 from 200,000 in the last 24 hours.

The number of COVID-19 positive Indians rose to 424, of which 148 contracted the disease in the country and 276 overseas. Twenty-five foreigners have already tested positive in India.

Active cases

“The total number of active COVID-19 cases across India stands at 148 so far,” the Union Health Ministry said.