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By APD writer Rishika Chauhan
New Delhi, February 15, 2020
According to the Ministry of Health, across India 9,452 persons are under surveillance for COVID-19, most of them are quarantined in their homes.
Since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 as a public health emergency of international concern on the January 3, India has been concerned since a number of Indians study, work and visit China.
So far India has evacuated more than 600 Indians and Myanmar citizens from Wuhan, the epicentre of the disease.
Kerala, a province that had earlier declared the COVID-19 outbreak as a state disaster has 2,397 patients under quarantine observation. Of them, 2,375 are quarantined at home and 22 are under isolation in hospitals.
The only three patients who tested positive for COVID-19 also belonged to Kerala. They were medical students who returned from Wuhan, China earlier. The three have recovered as per recent reports.
Kerala’s Finance Minister, Thomas Isaac, confirmed the news of their recovery on Thursday through Twitter. He said: “Just as in the case of Nipah, Kerala has won the battle with coronavirus. All the three patients identified have been confirmed by central authorities to have fully recovered.”
The first two positive cases were reported from the districts of Thrissur and Alappuzha in Kerala. The third patient was from Kasargod and though recovered, remains under observation.
Kerala had taken the decision to declare COVID-19 as a state disaster after the number of positive cases rose to three. However, as no other confirmed cases were reported, the declaration was withdrawn last week.
Meanwhile, people in many other cities have also been quarantined. So far in Maharashtra, four people have been quarantined and admitted to the Indira Gandhi Medical College in Nagpur on suspicion of having caught the infection.
In Delhi around 16 people are under observation. Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan has assured that the central government, was taking preventive measures to check an outbreak.
So far, 1,118 flights have been screened. The Ministry of Health has also issued a travel advisory staying the issuing of Visas to passengers travelling from the regions where the incidence of the infection is high.
Earlier, the WHOofficially namedthe disease caused by the novelcoronavirus. The disease is called “COVID-19”; the “CO” stands forcoronavirus, “VI” for virus and “D” for disease. While, the coronavirus is called “nCoV-2019”, by WHO.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
