It has only been hours since India confirmed its first case of Coronavirus and the World Health Organisation has declared the novel Coronavirus outbreak to be a public health emergency.
The declaration by the WHO underlines the seriousness of the issue and the fact that the virus is no longer limited to its originating country China and has become nothing short of a global concern.
A senior Health Ministry official said, “The Ministry is in close tough with WHO and we have been informed that the announcement has come not just because what is happening in China, but because of what is happening in other countries. The virus is now in 21 countries including India.”
The WHO declaration calls it a public health emergency of international concern and has issued special cautionary notes to all the member countries so that they are all able to understand the graveness of the matter.
The decision was announced in a statement issued after the second meeting of the Emergency Committee convened by the WHO Director General under the International Health Regulations(2005) regarding the outbreak of Coronavirus 2019.
The Indian Health Ministry has gone a step ahead and announced an alert at all ports and now everybody who has a travel history to or from China from January 15 onwards will have to undergo tests for the virus. Additional measures may be announced later in the day.
It has been estimated that so far India has conducted the screenings of 43,346 passengers arriving from China and one positive case has been detected. China had 38 new deaths due to Coronavirus and the death toll so far has come to 170 throughout the world.
