India
Informing that that government is dealing with the situation, Vardhan said that India initiated required preparedness and action since January 17, much before the advice of the World Health Organisation.
Updated : Mar 05, 2020, 01:37 PM IST | Edited by : Abhishek Sharma
A day after the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in India rose to 29, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Thursday told the Upper House of the Parliament that there's no need to panic over the situation and ministers including Prime Minister Narendra Modi are reviewing the situation on a daily basis.
Briefing the Rajya Sabha on the impact of the COVID-19 virus outbreak in India, the minister said, "I am daily reviewing the situation. A Group of Ministers is also monitoring the situation."
"Total 29 cases reported. Of them, three are from Kerala who have been released. One more has tested positive in Delhi, who has a travel history to Italy," he added.
Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan in Rajya Sabha makes a statement on Coronavirus: Till 4th March, there have been 29 positive cases of Coronavirus in India pic.twitter.com/HPq4DLQtuZ
— ANI (@ANI) March 5, 2020
Informing that that government is dealing with the situation, Vardhan said that India initiated required preparedness and action since January 17, much before the advice of the World Health Organisation.
On Wednesday, the health minister had announced that all the passengers arriving in India will undergo scanning regardless of the country they came from. "From now on, all flights and passengers will be part of universal screening, not just the 12 countries which we had listed earlier," he had said.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Wednesday issued an advisory to all schools asking them to avoid large gatherings of students in the premises.
It also asked schools to make alcohol-based hand sanitisers available for students in the premises.