Odisha sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik's art on Coronavirus gets global appreciation

Renowned sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik was applauded globally for his sand sculpture expressing solidarity with China over the deadly Coronavirus. The Padma Shri awardee created his sand art at the Puri beach in Odisha which he shared with people through his official Twitter account. The message on the sand art read as "Fight against Coronavirus, we stand with China".

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Pattnaik's sand art was acclaimed by the Twitterati's, including Chinese Ambassador, Sun Weidong and the Director-General of World Health Organisation Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. 

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Chinese Ambassador Sun Weidong acknowledged the kind gesture of Pattnaik and tweeted saying: "Appreciate this message".

WHO Director-General  Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also thanked Pattnaik and tweeted, "Such a beautiful way to express solidarity to the people of China during this challenging 2019 (nCoV) outbreak. Thank you."

Twitterati praised the efforts of Sudarsan Pattnaik sand art. A user wrote, "Thanks. We are all human... And we need to help each other by any means." 

"Such a beautiful way to express compassion and support to the people of China during this challenging 2019 (nCoV) outbreak" Dr Sangita Reddy, Joint Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals Group and President, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry.

Coronavirus death toll reaches 1,110 in China 

The death toll for the Coronavirus outbreak in China has reportedly jumped to 1,110 on February 12 with another 1,638 new confirmed cases, according to Hubei's health commission. The total number of confirmed cases across China are now more than 44,200. Hubei province, which is the epicentre of the viral outbreak, has also reported 94 new deaths. 

The outbreak took place in Wuhan in January and multiple countries have started evacuating their citizens from the country, and have decided to restrict the entry of foreigners returning from China. The virus was officially also named 'COVID-19' at a conference in Geneva held by the World Health Organisation, where the body's chief said that countries had a chance of stopping its global spread. 

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