Kerala MPs demand govt statement on coronavirus in LS

A group of Lok Sabha members from Kerala raised the issue of cases of coronavirus in the southern state in the House on Tuesday and demanded a comprehensive statement from the government on the issue. T N Prathapan of the Congress raised the issue during the Zero Hour, demanding financial support from the Centre for Kerala and immediate dispatch of a disaster management team to take stock of the situation.

N K Premachandran of the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and K Suresh of the Congress supported Prathapan and demanded a statement from the Union health minister in the House. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal said he would convey the feelings of the members to the minister. He said the government had taken several steps to contain the situation.

With three students, all from the Wuhan University in China, testing positive for the novel coronavirus, the Kerala government declared the epidemic as a "state calamity" on Monday. In Kozhikode, 306 people have been kept under observation at their homes and four in the isolation ward of a hospital.