Coronavirus in India: 6 confirmed cases as Covid-19 outbreak knocks on Indian doors
NEW DELHI : The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) epidemic is knocking on Indian doors after infecting tens of thousands of people in over 60 countries across the world.
This week, India reported three fresh coronavirus cases, taking the total number of confirmed infections in the country to six. And since then, focus has increasingly shifted to the fallout impact of the new Covid-19 cases and to the question of how ready the country is to fight the global outbreak.
Covid-19 first originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The disease, that leads to illnesses ranging from common cold, fever, shortness of breath to pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death, is caused by a kind of coronavirus never seen before. This led to the virus initially being called novel coronavirus 2019 (nCov-19). The disease was later formally labelled Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19). In the media, it’s being widely called coronavirus.
As of Tuesday, coronavirus has infected more than 89,000 people in over 60 countries. The virus has killed more than 3,000 people in around 8 countries. Most of these cases (80,151 infected and 2,943 dead) are from mainland China, the epicentre of the Covid-19 outbreak, according to figures compiled by news agency Reuters.
India has largely escaped the brunt of the outbreak so far. But the three fresh cases reported this week have brought the spotlight on how prepared the country is to deal with the coronavirus outbreak and how the situation stands currently.
A third case of Coronavirus was confirmed in the country today, the patient is an Italian tourist who is currently in Jaipur, Rajasthan. The report from Pune’s National Institute of Virology came in this evening. Six more people, who came in contact with a patient from Delhi, are suspected to have the virus.
Their samples were sent to Pune after they tested positive at a hospital in Lucknow. All six are currently at a hospital in Delhi. The initial patient in Delhi was one of the two other confirmed cases of infection over the last 48 hours.
The second patient is a Bengaluru-based techie, who is now in Hyderabad. Currently the total number of infected persons is three. Three others who contracted the virus have been cured, doctors said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said there is “no need to panic”.
PM Modi tweeted this afternoon that he had an “extensive review with (a) number of ministries and state governments regarding preparedness levels”. He said there was “no need to panic”. The government has set up a task force to monitor the situation.
The Italian tourist in Jaipur was part of a group of 23 Italians who landed in Delhi and travelled to Rajasthan last month. The rest of the group has left for Agra and are expected to fly out to Italy from Delhi today.
The Delhi patient who tested positive for coronavirus, recently returned from Italy. His two children attend a private school in Noida, which has been shut since he was diagnosed. The school has cancelled internal exams, and its premises are being sanitised by the local health authorities.
The patient had gone to Italy as part of a group tour. Six of the group have tested positive at the Lucknow hospital and now, all the samples have been sent to Pune’s National Institute of Virology. All the families have been quarantined at home.
According to sources, the Delhi patient was not screened at airport because he flew in from Austria, where the outbreak has not been declared serious. The crew of the Air India flight that flew him last week has been asked to stay in isolation at their homes for 14 days. A similar advisory has been issued to other passengers.
The affected passenger in Hyderabad had travelled on IndiGo flight 6E 96 (Dubai-Bangalore) on February 20. The crew of the flight have been placed under observation. The symptoms of the coronavirus may appear any time between 2 and 14 days after the exposure. The symptoms include fever, cough and shortness of breath. Worldwide, the virus has infected around 90,000 people, of whom around 3,000 have died.
The Union Health Ministry has advised people not to travel to China, Iran, South Korea and Italy. It has also asked all citizens to avoid non-essential travel to other affected nations.
Passengers from 10 countries — China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Nepal, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia — are being screened at airports. All passengers from Italy and Iran would now undergo thermal screening after the new cases surfaced. Incoming passengers on all international flights are being asked to furnish “duly filled self-declaration form and travel history”.
(Bureau Report with Agency Inputs).
