Modi offers all help to Xi to deal with deadly crisis
More than 9,400 people across India are presently under observation following coronavirus outbreak in China. As of now, 1,818 flights and over one lakh 97 thousand passengers have been screened at 21 airports.
In India, universal screening for all flights from Singapore and Thailand besides Hong Kong and China is already on at earmarked aero-bridges. The screening of passengers is on in all 21 airports, international seaports and border crossings, as per a statement of the Union Health Ministry.
Meanwhile, concerned at the death of over 800 people in the neighbouring country due to the lethal virus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday wrote to Chinese President Xi Jinping about India’s readiness to provide assistance to the country to deal with the situation.
In a letter to Xi, Modi expressed solidarity with the president and people of China over the outbreak of the virus, official sources said.
A total of 1,510 samples have been tested and 1,507 samples were found negative except for three samples which had tested positive already from Kerala. The containment and prevention activities are being taken up on utmost priority. All the States are continually strengthening their rapid response teams to counter any eventuality, said the statement.
The Indians tested positive for the disease are students who recently returned from China’s Wuhan city, the epicentre of the virus outbreak.
A total of 811 people have died of the coronavirus infection in China so far while the number of confirmed cases has gone up to 37,198, according to latest data released by Chinese authorities.
The Prime Minister also conveyed India’s appreciation for China’s assistance in evacuation of Indians from Hubei province. While offering India’s assistance to China to face the challenge, Modi also conveyed condolences at the unfortunate loss of lives due to the outbreak.
Though the epicentre of the outbreak was Hubei province, the virus has spread to almost every province in China as well as around 25 countries in the world, forcing the World Health Organization to declare it a global emergency.
A sizeable number of countries have evacuated their citizens from China and restricted movement of people and goods to and from China.
India too has put restrictions on the movement of people to and from China as part of precautionary measures to contain the spread of the virus.
