Coronavirus: How many cases have been reported in India so far?

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet on Wednesday that the coronavirus is a big threat to the people and economy of the country. He also alleged that the government is not taking this risk seriously and action is necessary at the time.

On the very next day, on Thursday, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan tweeted that the government has formed a group of ministers to deal with the coronavirus and monitor the preparations going on across the country.

Foreign Minister S.K. Jaishankar, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State (Ministry of Shipping) Mansukh Mandavia, Minister of State for Home Nityananda Rai and Minister of State for Health Ashwini Kumar Choubey were present.

Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan told the media on Thursday that what kind of preparations are going on to tackle the coronavirus across the country and how many cases have been reported in the country so far.

He said, “India had taken Coronavirus into cognizance only on 17 January. We had already announced before the World Health Organization that it could become a global emergency later. We have continued to monitor this at all levels in the government in collaboration with the Ministries Secretariats and the Chief Secretaries of the country. Through video conferencing, we are in touch with the health secretaries of the state governments. READ MORE

Dr. Harsh Vardhan told that the screening was started at the first seven airports which included Calcutta, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kochi, Hyderabad and Bengaluru. In the initial days, a team of experts has also been sent to all these places. Later, their number was increased to 21 and screening was also started at C-port. In this, thermal screening of passengers coming from these six countries is being done in China, England, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and Korea.

According to the Union Health Minister, at present, passengers of 2315 flights across the country are being checked. There are 12 large and 65 small ports where passengers are being monitored.

At these ports, 5776 passengers have been screened for the aircraft whose route connects to China. At NIB Pune, the lab tested about 1756 samples, out of which only 3 positives were found.

After the first case of coronavirus came out in Nepal, it also alerted in the border states associated with Nepal. The screening started at the level of the panchayat, gram sabha as well. Along with this, states with the border with China were also alerted.

So far, three such cases of infection have been confirmed in India. All the cases are from Kerala where they have been admitted. All of them are connected to Wuhan’s journey in one way or the other. They were tested and given positive treatment. Currently, they have proved to be negative. One of them has also been discharged. The remaining two can also be discharged in a few days. READ MORE

The Union Health Minister said, “We have made changes in the travel policy at the moment. People were forbidden to travel. Visas that were already issued have also been abolished. The visa of foreign nationals who were travelling from China to India has been terminated. ‘’

Dr. Harsh Vardhan told that there are 3700 passengers aboard the Diamond Queen Cruise ship and some Indians are also in the crew. He said that 439 people were tested on the cruise, out of which 174 people have been found positive so far.

He said that 132 crew members and six passengers on the cruise are also from India who has been stopped there?

He said that around 15991 people have been kept under surveillance across the country, out of which about 497 people are being treated on the basis of symptoms.

41 people have been kept apart. However, he also clarified that keeping someone separate from the hospital does not mean that he is positive with the virus.

The government started a call centre for complaints and suggestions about the coronavirus, whose number is 01123978046, it works 24 hours. So far, about four thousand phone calls have been received, in which people are taking information and also telling problems.

A person suffering from coronavirus or any other similar disease can be identified through the thermal screening.

Actually, thermal screening reveals a clear distinction between a healthy person and a person suffering from any kind of virus. Its peculiarity is that the waves emanating from it do not have any side effect on the body. However, it is advisable to use it under the supervision of experts.

In the process of thermal screening people has to go through a scanner. This scanner detects the suspected patient based on the body temperature of the person.

A person with corona will have a higher body temperature than a normal person. The suspected person is sent for medical examination.

With this, the thermal scanner acts as an infrared camera. Viruses present in the body of a person passing through this scanner are visible in infrared photographs.

When the number of viruses is high or at a dangerous level, the body temperature of the person also increases.

Originally published at https://www.mubahisa.in.