Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Wednesday confirmed 28 positive cases of coronavirus in India. He also said that all international flights and passengers would be screened.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that a task force has been set up to control the situation. A coronavirus testing lab will be set up at the Lady Hardinge Hospital and also at the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital if necessary, he said. There is no shortage of masks, the chief minister added.
Following the spread of the virus, PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah tweeted that they would refrain from celebrating Holi to contain the spread of the virus. Here's a brief rundown of the COVID-19.
What is coronavirus? How did it start?
The source of coronavirus is believed to be a market in Wuhan, China, where birds and animals are sold. coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that cause diseases in animals and seven of the family have spread to humans, causing the coronavirus outbreak.
The latest on coronavirus:
1. The total number of confirmed cases have crossed 93,000 globally, while the total number of deaths has surpassed 3,100.
2. Out of those who tested positive in India, one person is from Delhi, 6 of whose relatives in Agra were also infected. 16 Italians and their Indian driver tested positive along with 1 one in Telangana and 3 cases in Kerala, out of which the latter 3 of have been cured.
3. Telangana allotted Rs 100 crore to combat coronavirus and has designated a special hospital for coronavirus. India has also imposed curbs on export 26 pharmaceutical ingredients and medicines, including paracetamol, to ensure that it does not face shortages amid fears of a spread of the coronavirus in the country.
4. Iranian President Rouhani said nearly all provinces in Iran were affected by the coronavirus, taking the number of positive cases to over 2,900 in the country. Poland also reported its first case of the outbreak. South Korea, the worst-hit after China, reported over 5,600 positive cases for the virus.
5. Japanese drugmaker Takeda also joined other pharma companies in developing a coronavirus drug. it plans to do so by transferring the antibodies to a new patient, helping their immune system respond to the infection and increasing their chance of recovery.
6. Scientists in China studying the viral disease outbreak's origin said they had found two main types of the new coronavirus causing the infections. The preliminary study found that a more aggressive type of the new coronavirus associated with the disease outbreak in Wuhan accounted for about 70% of analysed strains, while 30% was linked to a less aggressive type. The prevalence of the more aggressive virus decreased after early January 2020, they said.
7. The Japanese government reiterated that the Tokyo Summer Olympics still on track despite the coronavirus threat, urging athletes to prepare "full steam".
8. World Bank announced up to $12 billion in immediate funds for coronavirus to assist countries grappling with the health and economic impacts of the coronavirus virus outbreak that has spread quickly from China to some 80 countries.
9. Protective gear to fight the virus 'rapidly depleting': warns WHO. WHO said that although the understanding of how the new coronavirus spreads was rapidly increasing the protective gear needed to fight the disease was "rapidly depleting".
10. Coronavirus more deadly than flu but containable, WHO's director-general has said."To summarise, COVID-19 spreads less efficiently than flu, the transmission does not appear to be driven by people who are not sick, it causes more severe illness than flu, there are not yet any vaccines or therapeutics, and it can be contained," he said. Imposing travel restrictions and screening travellers should be part of the strategy, but are not enough, said Dr Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO's Health Emergencies Programme.
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