DUBAI 31 January 2020: With four cases in UAE, two in Canada and now a first one in India, the World Health Organization has declared a ‘Global Health Emergency’.
Overall, there have been 98 cases in 18 countries, but no deaths outside China.
India’s first confirmed case of novel coronavirus has been reported from Kerala. A medical student enrolled in Wuhan University in China, who had recently returned to India, tested positive for the disease.
India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare issued a statement yesterday afternoon that she is in “isolation in a hospital. The patient is stable and is being closely monitored.” The confirmed case is in Thrissur district of Kerala, said Wam.
Kerala’s Health Minister, K K Shailaja, supplemented the Health Ministry statement. She too confirmed that the female medical student from Wuhan has tested positive.
Following the confirmation, India’s senior-most bureaucrat, the Cabinet Secretary, held a meeting here to review the preparedness of the country along with the Ministries of Health and Family Welfare, External Affairs, Defence, Home Affairs, Civil Aviation, Information and Broadcasting, Labour and Employment, as well as the Ministry Shipping. He also held a video conference with his counterparts, namely the Chief Secretaries, in all the states and union territories.
After the meeting and the video conference, it was decided that all those who have come from China after January 15 shall be tested for the virus. “The Cabinet Secretary has stressed the need for home isolation of two weeks for all those who have returned from China,” the government’s Press Information Bureau announced.
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