Coronavirus Outbreak: Health Ministry reviews preparedness
New Delhi/UNI: With the Novel Coronavirus being declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the number of confirmed Coronavirus cases worldwide soaring to 118,000 in 114 countries, the Union Ministry of Health on Thursday reviewed it's preparedness, in the wake of the outbreak.
Defending the decision to put India in a lockdown position to prevent the spread of the killer disease, Joint Secretary in the Union Health Ministry, Lav Aggarwal said "COVID-19 is now officially declared a global pandemic. The situation is constantly evolving. India has taken stringent steps, the situation is being monitored by Prime Minister Narendra Modi."
Briefing journalists here, he said that facts about it were still being studied. "There are no confirmatory studies. It is generally expected that the virus, if it is in higher temperatures, may have difficulty in surviving, but it is not confirmed."
The Union Health Ministry reviewed on Thursday, the decisions taken by India to tackle the outbreak of COVID-19. As of now, 73 cases are confirmed. Three of these, hailing from Kerala, have since recovered and been discharged.
Urging the public not to panic about the scarcity of masks and hand sanitisers, Aggarwal said "A mask is not always necessary, if a person maintains effective social distance. There is no need to panic."
As of now, testing facilities are available in 52 government centres and 56 government collection centres, he said, adding that there was no need to involve private sector for testing.
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