Coronavirus spread: Over 600 cases in India, Delhi doctor tests positive

The all India tally, however, did not take into account one death each reported on Wednesday by state officials in Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh.

The total number of coronavirus cases in India rose to 606 on Wednesday as authorities beefed up preparedness to fight the pandemic with a chain of hospitals of the Army ordnance factories and central paramilitary forces earmarking over 2,000 beds for isolation and treatment of people affected by COVID-19.

In addition, the Hamirpur district administration in Himachal Pradesh took over all the ten hostels with 2,000 rooms of the National Institute of Technology (NIT) for creating an isolation centre, an official said in Shimla.

A 2,200-bed state-run hospital in Kolkata has stopped admitting new patients who are suffering from other diseases and was discharging patients whose condition had improved as part of efforts to create a dedicated isolation centre, another official said in Kolkata.

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Addressing people of his constituency in Varanasi via a video link, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated that social distancing and staying indoors were the only way out and the best option to deal with coronavirus.

“Around one lakh people infected with coronavirus are recovering, this also needs to be highlighted,” he said.

“People should focus on how deadly this virus is. This disease doesn't discriminate between rich and poor," the prime minister said, a day after he announced a 21-day nationwide lockdown to try halt the spread of the coronavirus. The lockdown came into effect from midnight.

Covid-19 may be sensitive to heat but let's not bet on it, say studies

Covid-19 may have a temperature sweet spot at which it spreads fastest but it may not react to heat the same way other pathogens do.

Coronavirus’ (Covid-19) sensitivity to temperature has many people looking at summers with high hopes as the outbreak continues to rage on. Recent studies, however, are not as optimistic.

Research by a team from south China’s Sun Yat-sen University, sought to determine how the spread of the virus might be affected by changes in season and temperature, according to a report in The South China Morning Post.

“Temperature could significantly change Covid-19 transmission,” it said. “And there might be a best temperature for viral transmission.”

This temperature ‘sweet spot’ -- an optimum level at which the outbreak spreads faster – has given rise to assumptions that seasonal changes will curb the outbreak, the newspaper reported quoting the study.

The “virus is highly sensitive to high temperature”, which could prevent it from spreading in warmer countries, while the opposite appeared to be true in colder climes, the study said.

As a result, it suggested that “countries and regions with a lower temperature adopt the strictest control measures”.

A separate study by a group of researchers from Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, found that sustained transmission and rapid growth in infections was possible in a range of humidity conditions – from cold and dry provinces in China to tropical locations.

“Weather alone, [such as an] increase of temperature and humidity as the spring and summer months arrive in the Northern Hemisphere, will not necessarily lead to declines in case counts without the implementation of extensive public health interventions,” said the study, which was published in February.

Both the studies, however, are yet to be peer-reviewed.