Saturday, Mar 07, 2020 14:15 [IST]
Last Update: Saturday, Mar 07, 2020 08:32 [IST]
With 25 fresh coronavirus cases, this week was a watershed moment in the increasingly alarming run of the disease in India. All told, the India count of the virus — first reported in Wuhan in China — has now gone up to 30. After remaining a spectator to the pandemic so far, India is now officially under the grips of the disease.
India has the perfect conditions for the disease to become rampant: high population density, lack of sanitation and poor infrastructure. But could coronavirus already be widespread in the country? Several studies show that the number of coronavirus cases can double every 6.4 days. Since India is among the most densely populated countries in the world, the cases could double at an even faster rate.
The Indian government didn’t prepare well for an imminent contagion. Given that coronavirus is spreading fast even in developed countries, India is a sitting duck. After the first three cases were confirmed, the Indian government didn’t act fast enough and ban travel from coronavirus hot spots like Italy and Iran. Italy has exported coronavirus to many countries. So, it wasn’t a surprise when India’s health minister confirmed that 15 out of the 22 initial cases in India were Italian nationals. Worse, before these people were detected, they came in contact with at least 40 people in India’s densely-populated capital Delhi. Those people are now under surveillance. Delhi packs about 30,800 people per square mile, so it’s highly likely that the Italian nationals came in contact with a lot more than just 40 people.
The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan has reported its first case of the coronavirus after a US tourist tested positive, the Prime Minister Lotay Tshering said on Friday. The tiny, land-locked country, famous for measuring Gross National Happiness has emerged as a popular tourist destination in recent years. But the government immediately shut borders to foreign visitors for two weeks in an effort to limit the impact of a disease that has wreaked havoc in more developed countries around the world.
TheMinistry of Home Affairs (MHA) on March 5 issued an alert for six states with an advisory on the do's and dont's to stop the spread of the disease. The states West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Sikkim and Uttarakhand were put on alert.
Subsequently, Sikkim has banned entry of foreigners and suspended permit to Nathu La as precaution against COVID-19 and issued advisory against large gatherings during the Bhum Chu and Holi festivals.
