Still unexplained
The hunt for the origins of Covid-19 has for the past four years been a tangled web of politics, power struggles, and international finger-pointing.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Sunday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is closely monitoring the current crisis triggered due to the novel coronavirus.
“PM is personally monitoring the situation. Various departments and ministries are cooperating with the Health Ministry. I have also written to all Chief Ministers to keep a close watch on developments on this front” the Minister said.
Harsh Vardhan also said that till now 130 suspected cases have been tested out of which 128 cases have turned out to be negative and only two are positive.
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While addressing the mediapersons in the national capital, the Minister on the case of the person in Kerala who was tested positive for the deadly virus said that he is also studying in China, and came in the close proximity to the girl who had tested positive on Thursday.
“He sat next to the girl in the flight who tested positive three days ago. They were in touch with each other in China also,” he said.
The Health Minister also said that he is constantly in touch with Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja.
“I talk to her (Shailaja) everyday and we are extending all possible support to her. We have assured her that the Centre will provide all possible support to them,” he asserted.
The minister also assured that apart from China, we are now screening people who are coming back from Singapore and Thailand also.
“Whether or not the persons who have traveled to these places are put under the suspected category, they must remain in home quarantine, that means, isolated in a room for at least two weeks,” he further advised.
Coronavirus had triggered a sense of caution on the international level as the World Health Organisation has declared an international emergency in the face of the rapid spread of the virus.
More than 99 per cent of the cases are in China but, the virus has spread to across 23 countries.
In China, there remains a total number of 19,544 suspected cases.
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