Titanic! Rahul on India's nCoV preparedness

March 05, 2020 14:33

Rahul Gandhi on Union Health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan's statement in Parliament that India is full prepared to tackle coronavirus. Gandhi tweeted, "The Health Minister saying that the Indian Govt has the coronavirus crisis under control, is like the Capt of the Titanic telling passengers not to panic as his ship was unsinkable. It's time the Govt made public an action plan backed by solid resources to tackle this crisis."

In the wake of 29 positive novel coronavirus cases reported in India, the Union Health Ministry on Thursday asked states to form rapid response teams at the district, block and village levels, stating cases of community transmission have been observed.

As of now, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country stands at 29, including 16 Italian tourists. The figure includes the first three cases in the country from Kerala last month. The three patients have since recovered.

Screening of all foreign nationals has been mandated since March 4 and has started in most airports from Wednesday evening. The process should stabilise by Thursday with additional staff being provided by the states, the ministry said in a statement.

"Since, in addition to COVID 19 cases related to travel, some cases of community transmission have also been observed, it has been decided to involve district collectors and states have been asked to form rapid response teams as the district, block and village levels," the ministry said.

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