Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Thursday said India is prepared through its various timely measures and sturdy systems of surveillance for novel coronavirus and the government has constituted a high-level group of ministers to monitor the situation.
Dr Harsh Vardhan said political commitment at the highest levels of the Government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is leading the government’s response against Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID2019).
The Union minister said one of the three medical students, who had tested positive for novel coronavirus in Kerala has been discharged while the other two are being treated. They will be discharged after they recover completely, he said.
The observation was started from January 28 and they were reported positive on February 3 by NIV, Pune, the minister said.
All the 3 positive cases from Kerala are the students from Wuhan in China, the epicentre of coronavirus.
The Health Minister also announced that the government is sending some medical supplies, equipment and other materials to China as a goodwill measure.
The high-level group of ministers comprises Minister of External Affairs, Minister of Civil Aviation, Minister of State for Home Affairs, Minister of State for Shipping and Minister of State for Health & Family Welfare has been constituted under his Chairmanship to monitor the situation, he said.
He added that regular reviews are held with all related Ministries of Health, Defence, External Affairs, Civil Aviation, Home, Textiles, Pharmaceuticals, Commerce, Panchayati Raj and other officials including State Chief Secretaries.
Harsh Vardhan said he was briefed by Minister of State for Shipping Mansukh Mandaviya that his ministry has already stocked medicines and other necessary requirements if any untoward incident like China occurs here.
“We have good and effective co-ordination among ministries, robust surveillance system, network of laboratories to support diagnosis, upgraded medical facilities, trained health workforce and media presence that can reach even remote areas. We have put all these resources at our disposal to prevent/contain outbreak of novel coronavirus in India”, he stated.
He also informed that surveillance at Points of Entry (PoE) is continuing at 21 Airports, 12 major ports, 65 minor ports and at 6 land crossings. So far at the airports a cumulative of 2,51,447 persons (2315 flights) have been screened, 3 suspected cases and 161 contacts have been identified. 5491 and 285 passengers and crew has been screened at major and minor ports respectively, he added.
Total of 15991 persons are being followed up for a period of 28 days of which 3058 have completed 28 days of observation period. 497 suspect cases have been isolated. ICMR is providing the Laboratory support with NIV, Pune as the nodal laboratory and 14 other network laboratories. This can be expanded to include 50 laboratories, if the situation so demands. So far 1071 samples have been tested, out of which 1068 were found negative and only 3 have tested positive in Kerala. In addition, clinical samples of the 654 evacuees at Manesar and ITBP camps have also been tested and all of them were found to be negative.
States have been asked to ensure adequate provisions for isolation facilities and critical care especially for ventilator support, the minister said.
Harsh Vardhan also informed that India evacuated 645 Indian persons from Wuhan city including 7 Maldivians, and quarantined in 2 special quarantine camps and likely to be discharged once all of them test negative after a period of stay of 14 days.
Final sample collection of all 406 people housed at quarantine facility of Indo-Tibetan Border Police was done by the team of doctors on Thursday.
406 people back from Wuhan, including 7 Maldives nationals are being looked after at ITBP's Chhawla camp.