New Delhi (NVI): The Union Health Ministry today reviewed the preparedness for dealing with Novel Coronavirus after 41 confirmed cases of people affected by the virus were reported.
Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan has been monitoring the situation.
Health and Family Welfare Secretary Preeti Sudan is regularly reviewing the public health preparedness in the country since the news broke out.
As directed by the Health Ministry, meetings of the Joint Monitoring Group (JMG) were convened under the Chairmanship of Director General of Health Services (DGHS) on January 8 and 15 with representations from various stakeholders (health and non-health sectors) and WHO.
While speaking in New Delhi today, Preeti Sudan said that the public health preparedness is being reviewed on a day-to-day basis and the core capacities to timely detect and manage the importation of the nCoV into the country are being strengthened further.
She also mentioned that the situation is being monitored in consultation with WHO and keeping in view the limited human to human transmission the risk at global level is perceived to be low.
The first case was confirmed in a person who travelled to Wuhan, China. Japan and Thailand have also informed the (World Health Organisation) about the new cases of Chinese Coronavirus.
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses, which cause illnesses to people and also circulate in animals including camels, cats and bats. Rarely, animal coronaviruses can also evolve and infect people.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the situation is still evolving and preliminary investigations suggest a link to the seafood market.
