With the third confirmed case of coronavirus being reported from Kerala within last one week and the death toll crossing 360-mark in China, India, which is on high alert, on Monday set up a task force with representatives from various Ministries like Health and Home to review, monitor and evaluate the preparedness from spreading the deadly pathogen in the country.
Meanwhile, the Kerala Government on Monday declared coronavirus outbreak as a “State disaster”.
“A task force has been set up to monitor coronavirus situation. We discussed what all precautions need to be taken to prevent the spread of the virus,” Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy said on Monday. The Minister said Indians, who want to return, will be evacuated from China.
“Whoever wants to come back to India, they should get in touch with our Embassy,” he said. The other representatives in the task force are from Civil Aviation and Women and Child Development Ministries.
The first meeting of the task force chaired by Union Health Minister Dr Harshvardhan was held on Monday where the preventive steps taken to stem the spread of the virus in India were presented; it included information about the revised travel advisories and the temporary suspension of the e-visa facilities.
The Union Health Ministry updated its travel advisory, which was issued on Sunday, and asked people to refrain from travelling to China.
The third coronavirus case reported is that of a Keralite student who returned from Wuhan university. He is in an isolation ward at Kanhangad district hospital in Kasaragod district, Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja said.
The condition of the student is “stable”, she said. Two earlier positive cases, also of students who came back from Wuhan, the epi-centre of the virus, were reported from Thrissur and Alapuzha districts in Kerala. They have been isolated and under regular monitoring.
The Group of Ministers (GoM) formed to review, monitor and evaluate the preparedness to contain the deadly infection in the country also held its first meeting. The high-level GoM includes Union Ministers Harsh Vardhan, Hardeep Puri, S Jaishankar, G Kishan Reddy, Ashwini Kumar Choubey and Mansukh Lal Mandaviya.
Globally, there have been 14,569 confirmed cases and 305 deaths within a month, much higher than that from the 2002-03 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), caused by another coronavirus. SARS resulted in 8,096 cases and 774 deaths in nine months.
Dr PK Mishra, principal secretary to the Prime Minister, on Monday reviewed the situation relating to the coronavirus in the country.
Mishra also reviewed the arrangements for the approximately 600 evacuees getting treatment at health camps in the border areas of the national Capital.
National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Principal Adviser to the Prime Minister PK Sinha, Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, and secretaries of other relevant ministries were also present.
Till Monday, a total of 593 flights have been screened covering a total of 72,353 passengers. Screening of passengers is ongoing in 21 airports, international seaports and border crossings particularly with Nepal.
Universal screening in all flights from Singapore and Thailand besides Hong Kong and China is being done, said a statement here by the Union Health Ministry.
Further, 2,815 people are presently under community surveillance in 29 States and UTs. Out of a total of 338 samples sent for testing, 335 have been found to be negative, 3 are positive, while 70 are being processed.
A 24x7 Control Room is operational (011-23978046), said the statement.