Varun Dhawan shares important message amid COVID-19 scare; says 'It’s time we introspect'

India reported its first death due to Coronavirus on Thursday as the number of positive cases soared to at least 75, with authorities taking emergency measures to contain its spread like shutting down schools, colleges and cinema halls in the national capital and some other places.

Amidst the outbreak, Bollywood actor Varun Dhawan took to his Twitter to share an important message and said that it was time to introspect as we share this planet with many other species. 

Varun Dhawan immediately corrects paparazzi after he calls Nepal a 'village'; Watch Video

The total number of patients in India includes 16 Italians and one Canadian. The figure is inclusive of three patients from Kerala who were discharged last month following recovery. 

With the novel Coronavirus being declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation, Raman R Gangakhedkar, the head of the Epidemiology and Communicable Diseases-I, a division of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), said even though the virus is difficult to isolate, scientists at the National Institute of Virology in Pune have been successful in finding about 11 isolates, but developing a vaccine will take at least one-and-a-half to two years.

What is Coronavirus?

The coronavirus (CoV) is a novel strain in the large family of viruses that causes illnesses ranging from the common cold to acute respiratory syndromes. Common symptoms of the novel coronavirus (nCoV) strain include respiratory symptoms such as fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties, as per WHO. Coronaviruses are zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted between animals and people, according to the WHO. Several known coronaviruses are circulating in animals that have not yet infected humans.

(With PTI inputs)