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New Delhi : Health & Family Welfare Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, in a suo-moto statement on March 5, 2020, informed the Rajya Sabha, that as on March 4, 2020, a total of 80,270 confirmed cases and 2,981 deaths due to novel Corona Virus Disease have been reported in China.
In India, Dr Vardhan said, as on March 4, 2020, a total of 29 positive cases have been reported so far. Of these 3 cases were reported in Kerala earlier, who have since recovered and have been discharged already. For last 3 days, new travel related cases have tested positive. They include one in Delhi (having travel history of Italy) and Telangana (having travel history from Dubai and contact history from person from Singapore). Both are clinically stable. Six more cases have tested positive in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, having contact history with case in Delhi. Required action as per Cluster Management plan has been initiated.
Further, an Italian Tourist and his wife have tested positive in Rajasthan. Fourteen other accompanying tourists in this group and their Indian bus driver tested positive on their return to Delhi. All of them are reported to be stable. A positive case was reported in Delhi on March 4, 2020, having travel history from Italy, and is stable.
Though the daily confirmed cases and deaths have shown a downward trend in China, still new cases are being reported from Hubei province and Wuhan city, the epicenter of the outbreak. A total of 12,857 confirmed cases and 220 deaths have been reported outside China from 78 countries (including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan), Dr Vardhan said, according to a PIB release.
“I am daily reviewing the situation. A Group of Ministers consisting of Minister of External Affairs, Minister of Civil Aviation and Minister of State for Home Affairs, Minister of State for Shipping, and Minister of State for Health & Family Welfare, chaired by me has been constituted to monitor the situation. The Group of Ministers has met four times since its inception on February 3, 2020. Cabinet Secretary is taking regular reviews with all related Ministries of Health, Defence, Ministry of External Affairs, Civil Aviation, Home, Textiles, Pharma, Commerce and other officials including with State Chief Secretaries. My own Ministry is constantly reviewing the evolving scenario. Video Conferences are being held with States every other day,” Dr Vardhan said.
He said that Coronaviruses are large group of viruses that cause illness in humans and animals. Rarely, animal corona viruses can also evolve and infect people and then spread among the people as has been seen with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome(SARS) in 2003 and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2014. Since reporting of an outbreak of Novel Coronavirus on December 31, 2019 in China, a large number of cases have been reported across all provinces of China and other parts of the world including India. WHO has named the novel coronavirus disease as COVID-19, he said.
Dr Vardhan said that the World Health Organization (WHO) had declared this outbreak as a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern” (PHEIC) on January 30, 2020, and raised the level of global risk to “very high” on February 28, 2020. Though WHO has not declared COVID-19 to be Pandemic, it has asked the countries to remain prepared. India initiated required preparedness and action at field level on January 17, 2020, itself, much before the advice from WHO, he added.
The Minister said once a person is exposed to the infection, the disease may develop anytime between 1-14 days. The main symptoms of novel corona virus disease are fever, cough, and difficulty in breathing. All suspected or probable cases of COVID-19 must be treated in isolation with barrier nursing and universal precautions to prevent the further spread of disease.
“With the increasing global spread of the diseases, we are confronted with new challenges. The contact tracing of positive cases requires tracing of hundreds of contacts in multiple locations and monitoring their health. Similarly, the cases in Agra being transmitted to family members by the confirmed case has necessitated putting up a containment plan to contain the cluster of cases in Agra,” Dr vardhan added. Another major area of concern is Indian pilgrims and students stranded in Tehran and Quam, Iran, epicentres of the Iran Covid-19 outbreak. Government of India is following up with Iran authorities for their well-being and to tie up evacuation as per need, he said.
A national level training workshop has been planned for all the states and hospitals from other Ministries on COVID-19 management on March 6, 2020, which will then be taken up to district level. Senior Officers of the Ministry have been deputed to States and UTs to review their preparedness and provide required guidance in the containment efforts.