New Delhi|HL
Looking at the concern on spreading of Corona Virus a high-level meeting held in Delhi on Saturday.
On the instructions of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Shri P K Mishra chaired a high level meeting to review the preparedness measures for prevention and management of Coronavirus.
At a meeting in Delhi chaired by PK Mishra, principal secretary to the Prime Minister, health ministry officials presented an update about response measures being undertaken, official sources said.
The meeting was held on the instructions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The cabinet secretary, home secretary, foreign secretary, defence secretary, health secretary, civil aviation secretary and several other top officials attended the meeting.
The sources said health ministry officials briefed PK Mishra on the preparedness of hospitals, laboratories as well as on measures being taken for the capacity building of rapid response teams to deal with possible cases of coronavirus.
PK Mishra also reviewed the preventive measures taken by other ministries like the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
The officials assured the Principal Secretary that the situation is being closely monitored by the Ministry of Health and Family Affairs, in close coordination with various other union ministries as well as State governments and Union Territories.
So far, more than 20,000 passengers from 115 flights at 7 international airports have been screened. National Institute of Virology, Pune labs are fully equipped to test the virus. All state and district health authorities have been alerted and are in a state of preparedness for prevention and possible management, if required.
Cabinet Secretary, Secretary (Home Affairs), Secretary (External Affairs), Secretary (Defence), Secretary (Health and Family Welfare), Secretary (Civil Aviation) and several other senior officials attended the meeting.
Around 100 people have been kept under observation in Kerala and Maharashtra following screening for a possible exposure to novel coronavirus (nCoV) as the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Saturday reviewed India’s preparedness to deal with any situation amid mounting global concern over rising cases in China.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said no positive case has been detected in India so far though samples of seven passengers have been sent to the ICMR-NIV Pune lab.
A 24×7 call centre has been made operational.
Samples of four other passengers tested earlier have been confirmed to be negative for nCoV by the lab.
