NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, JAN 30
High-level review meetings on preparedness for Novel Coronavirus are regularly being held by the Union Health Minister, Cabinet Secretary and Health Secretary.
Cabinet Secretary has held four review meetings so far. Today he reviewed the preparedness with the concerned Ministries of Health & Family Welfare, External Affairs, Defence, Home Affairs, Civil Aviation, Information & Broadcasting, Labour & Employment, and Shipping.
A Video Conference with the Chief Secretaries of the States and UTs was also taken by the Cabinet Secretary.
Following today’s meeting of the Cabinet Secretary, several new steps have been taken:
All those who have come from China after 15th January 2020 shall be tested as there is an incubation period for the virus.
The Cabinet Secretary has stressed upon the need for 14 days’ home isolation for all those who have returned from China.
It is also advised that the trip to China should be avoided.
It was also decided to augment the lab facilities.
Six more labs will start functioning from today:(1) NIV Bengaluru Unit, (2) Victoria Hospital Campus, KR Road, Fort, Bengaluru (3), AIIMS, New Delhi (4), NCDC, Delhi (5) Kasturba Hospital for infectious diseases, Mumbai (8) NIV – Kerala Unit.
Six more labs will start function by 31st January 2020: (1) ICMR – NICED, Kolkata (2) GMC, Secunderabad (3) KGMU, Lucknow (4) SMS, Jaipur (5) IGGMC, Nagpur (6) KIPMR, Chennai.
Discharge portal for patients has been prepared by DGHS which is being disseminated.
It was decided to put up check-posts in relevant tourist locations for better surveillance.
Gram panchayats are being organised to make people more aware regarding the symptoms, precautions and measures taken by the State Governments regarding prevention and management for Novel Coronavirus in villages bordering Nepal.
States have also been advised to open control rooms, appoint a nodal officer and popularize the control room number.
IEC material is to be prepared in the local language by the concerned States.
Status
As on 30th January 2020, a total of 7711 confirmed cases reported by 31 provinces, 1370 serious cases, 170 deaths, 124 discharged and cured cases and 12167 suspected cases. Most of the deaths reported in elderlies with co-morbid conditions.
The number of reported confirmed cases abroad are Thailand (14), Singapore (10), Australia (5), USA (5), Japan (8), South Korea (4), Malaysia (7), France (4), Vietnam (2) Canada (2), Nepal (1), Cambodia (1), Sri Lanka (1) Germany (4), UAE (4), Hong Kong (10), Macao (7), Taiwan (8), Finland (1), Angola (1) and India (1), total of 21 countries.
One positive case of Novel Coronavirus patient, of a student studying the Wuhan University, has been reported in Kerala. The patient has tested positive for Novel Coronavirus and is in isolation in the hospital. The patient is stable and is being closely monitored.
Screening data: from 21 airports
Total flights screened: 234
Total passengers screened: 43346
Laboratory Support
National Institute of Virology, Pune is fully geared up to test samples of nCoV.
Adequate lab reagents are available with NIV, Pune to test 5000 samples.
49 samples have been referred to as NIV for testing. 48 have tested as Negative.
78 people who returned from China under house quarantine in TN
The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday said 78 people who had arrived from coronavirus-hit China were under ‘house quarantine’ and being monitored but asserted no positive case of the deadly virus has been detected in the state so far.
State Health and Family Welfare Minister C Vijayabaskar also said there was no need for any panic as preventive measures had been put in place and the government was paying more attention after one person tested positive for the virus in neighbouring Kerala.
As of date, 78 people who had arrived from China were under government monitoring, he said.
‘Public Health Department doctors are in touch with all the 78 daily. Nobody is affected, none of them is in a hospital. They are in their homes. They are in house quarantine,’ the Minister told reporters here.
‘So far there is no positive case of coronavirus in Tamil Nadu,’ Vijayabaskar said.
He stressed on personal hygiene and adviced people to wash their hands multiple times daily.
Responding to a question on the status of some Tamil Nadu medicos studying in China’s Wuhan city, the epicentre of the virus, he said the Chinese Embassy has informed the state government that they were safe.
‘We are taking all follow-up action to ensure their wellbeing,’ he added.
The novel coronavirus epidemic death toll in China has touched 170 with over 7,000 others being infected while it spread to at least 17 countries.
