'Let's stay strong & fight COVID-19': Virat Kohli urges everyone to be safe and vigilant

As the novel Coronavirus has gripped the world, Indian skipper Virat Kohli on Saturday urged everyone to stay strong and fight the virus by taking the required precautionary measures. This message from Kohli comes after the BCCI postponed the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the three-match ODI series against South Africa was also called off.

Taking to Twitter, the Indian skipper asked people to be safe and vigilant and reminded that 'prevention is better than cure'. 

Meanwhile, the total number of positive cases in India has risen up to 82 and two deaths have been reported so far. 

READ: MASSIVE: IPL 2020 put off till April 15 amid coronavirus fears; BCCI issues statement

IPL postponed

A statement was released on Friday afternoon which quoted BCCI Secretary Jay Shah and stated, "The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided to suspend IPL 2020 till 15th April 2020, as a precautionary measure against the ongoing novel Coronavirus situation."

The BCCI is concerned and sensitive about all its stakeholders, and public health in general, and it is taking all necessary steps to ensure that, all people related to IPL including fans have a safe cricketing experience. The cricket body will work closely with the Government of India along with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and all other relevant Central and State Government departments in this regard.

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Coronavirus Outbreak

As of today, the total number of positive cases in India has risen up to 82 - Haryana-15, Telangana-1, Rajasthan-3, Andhra Pradesh - 1, Karnataka-5, Jammu-1, Ladakh-3, Maharashtra- 16, Tamil Nadu-1, Uttar Pradesh-10, Delhi-6, Punjab-1, Kerala-19 (out of which 3 recovered). Along with it, two deaths have been reported in Kalaburagi and West Delhi respectively. 

First detected in Wuhan in December 2019, COVID-19- the novel coronavirus has affected nearly 118 countries in the world. Presently, there are over 1,24,518 confirmed cases of COVID-19 which has led to the death of 4,607 people. As there is no vaccine or specific antiviral medicine to treat COVID-19, countries have been grappling with all possible mechanisms to contain its spread. So far, China, South Korea, Italy, and Iran have witnessed the most number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus.

READ: Sourav Ganguly issues first statement after IPL gets postponed & India-SA ODIs cancelled

READ: India-South Africa remaining ODI series called off amid Coronavirus scare