Kochi, March 8: Five more people tested positive for novel coronavirus or COVID-19 in Kerala on Sunday. According to reports, 5 members of a family have been infected with coronavirus in Kerala, taking the total positive cases in India rise to 39. Reports inform that all the five new cases from Kerala have been reported in Pathanamthitta district. Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja confirmed the news and said five new positive cases of Coronavirus have been admitted in the isolation wards here. Three people recently returned from Italy while the other two had come into direct contact with them.

On Saturday, three cases were been found positive for COVID-19. These include two (2) from Ladakh with travel history to Iran and one (1) from Tamil Nadu with travel history to Oman. With these new cases, total number of cases are now 34 in the country. 31 cases are being treated in hospitals and are stable. Whereas the earlier three from Kerala have been discharged. Coronavirus Live Map: How to Track The Spread of COVID-19 Across The Globe.

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As many as 52 laboratories are now operational across the country for testing COVID-19 virus. An additional 57 laboratories have been provided with Viral Transport Media and swabs for sample collection.

Giving details about the measures taken amid the scare of COVID-19, the government said that a total of 7,26,122 from 7,108 flights have been screened at airports. Between yesterday morning and today, total of 73,766 passengers from 573 flights have undergone screening at airports.

Moreover, special COVID-19 mobile phone caller tune was launched by all telecom operators with basic infection prevention messages played when a caller dials-out to spread awareness. Over 117.2 crore subscribers of BSNL, MTNL Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vodafone-Idea are being progressively reached out to through SMSs and Call Backs.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 08, 2020 11:10 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).