The Indian Army reported its first case of Coronavirus after a 34-year-old soldier of Ladakh Scout regiment tested positive for the COVID-19, prompting the force to strengthen its check and prevention mechanism and suspend war games and training activities, as the total number of cases rose to 151 in the country on Wednesday. Meanwhile, in a written reply in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan said the total number of Indians infected by Coronavirus abroad is 276 — 255 in Iran, 12 in UAE, five in Italy, and one each in Hong Kong, Kuwait, Rwanda and Sri Lanka.

Incidentally, Muraleedharan on Tuesday announced that he has quarantined himself at his residence in the national capital as a precautionary measure after a medical institute he had visited recently in south India reported a COVID-19 case. Though, he had tested negative for the infection. A 34-year-old soldier from the Ladakh Scout regiment tested positive for the infection, Army sources said, adding the soldier, a resident of Chuhot village in Leh, came in contact with his father, who had returned from a pilgrimage in Iran on February 20 and tested positive.