India heading towards stage 3: Maharashtra Minister Rajesh Tope

Mumbai: Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Saturday said the state has witnessed a "big rise" in the number of coronavirus positive patients with the addition of 11 such cases, and appealed to the people to avoid using public transport to contain the spread.

Tope said the number of coronavirus positive patients in the state has increased to 63 with 11 new cases. Tope said that the rise in the number of patients is a major cause of concern and people's cooperation is needed to fight out the outbreak.

"If people don't listen and continue to use public transport unnecessarily, we may have to think otherwise," he said, adding that we are in Phase-2 and heading towards Phase-3.

With six new coronavirus positive cases being reported in Gujarat on Saturday, the number of infected persons in the state has gone up to 13, Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said.

Over 800 persons have been kept under home quarantine in Maharashtra's Aurangabad district, amid the coronavirus outbreak, a senior official said on Saturday.

A major chunk of these are students of a local college, where one of the lecturers tested positive for Covid-19 last week, she said.

"Although only one positive case of coronavirus was recorded in Aurangabad, the number of people quarantined has exceeded 800," Aurangabad Municipal Corporation Health Officer Dr Neeta Padalkar.

At least 12 people who have been infected with the novel coronavirus or COVID-19 travelled in trains between March 13 and 16, the railways said today. It asked people to postpone all journeys to avoid contracting the highly contagious virus.

"Railways has found some cases of coronavirus infected passengers in trains which makes train travel risky. Avoid train travel as you may also get infected if your co-passenger has coronavirus.

Postpone all journeys and keep yourself and your loved ones safe," the Railways tweeted. Rajasthan witnessed six new positive cases, while Punjab three more have tested positive.

An FIR was registered on Saturday in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur district against a man who, despite having traveled to a foreign country, allegedly evaded screening. He later tested positive for the coronavirus. Two members of his family also tested positive on Friday, and eight of his employees are suspected to have caught the infection as well, a senior official said. The man, who returned here from Dubai on March 16, failed to undergo screening and also did not isolate himself at home, said district collector Bharat Yadav.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged on Saturday that the railways was not ensuring proper screening of the passengers entering the state through long-distance trains. Two private schools were sealed, while 10 drivers were booked in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri and Samba districts for allegedly flouting government orders aimed at containing the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic, officials said on Saturday. Three foreign nationals under observation have tested positive , taking the total number of cases to six in Tamil Nadu.