Coronavirus: 53 people, including foreign tourists placed under observation in Uttarakhand

53 people, including foreign tourists, have been placed under observation in Uttarakhand's Haridwar district after displaying symptoms of coronavirus. Some of the suspected tourists have been admitted to the hospital recently, while others were already under watch.

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Foreigners under observation

Chief Medical Officer of Haridwar, Dr. Saroj Naithani said, "A total of 53 tourists including natives of Haridwar are still under observation in the district. Out of the 53 tourists, 14 have been admitted recently while 39 were already under watch."

In India, 43 cases of the virus have been confirmed. However, no person has died due to the virus. On Friday, the Health Ministry has also advised the citizens from across the country to avoid mass gatherings. In a notification issued on Friday morning, the Ministry stated that all mass gatherings may be "avoided or postponed till the disease spread is contained." The notification further stated that if mass gatherings are organized, states will have to take "necessary action to guide the organizers on precautions to be taken as per the risk communication material already sent so as to avoid any Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) cases and Influenza-Like Illness (ILIs) including Covid-19."

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Coronavirus outbreak

Globally, more than 3,400 people have died, with the epicentre being in China. The virus has infected more than 1,02,000 people globally and has now spread to North America South America, Europe, New Zealand, and as many as 80 other countries. 

On March 1, UN Humanitarian Chief Mark Lowcock today released US$15 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to help fund global efforts to contain the virus. The announcement came soon after the WHO upgraded the global risk of the coronavirus outbreak to "very high" – its top level of risk assessment. The WHO has said there is still a chance of containing the virus if its chain of transmission is broken.

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(with inputs from ANI)