PM's Office Reviews Preparedness to Deal with Coronavirus Cases as Fears of Outbreak Grow

New Delhi: The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on Saturday reviewed India's preparedness to deal with the deadly coronavirus amid mounting global concern over the increasing number of cases in China, the epicentre of the outbreak, and several other countries.

The meeting came hours after Union Minister Harsh Vardhan visited the PMO to discuss the infection and its preventive management.

At a meeting chaired by PK Mishra, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Health Ministry officials presented an update about the response measures being undertaken in the wake of outbreak in China, official sources said. The meeting was held on the instructions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Cabinet Secretary, Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary, Defence Secretary, Health Secretary, Civil Aviation Secretary and several other top officials attended the meeting.

They said health ministry officials briefed Mishra on the preparedness of hospitals, laboratories as well as on the measures being taken for the capacity building of rapid response teams to deal with possible cases of coronavirus.

Mishra also reviewed the various preventive measures taken by other ministries, such as Civil Aviation.

The officials assured Mishra that the situation is being closely monitored by the Ministry of Health and Family Affairs, in coordination with various other Union ministries as well as state governments and Union Territories.

So far, 20,000 people from 115 flights at seven international airports in the country have been screened.

The sources said the National Institute of Virology labs are fully equipped to test the virus and that all state and district health authorities have been alerted.

The meetings came a day after 11 people — seven in Kerala, two in Mumbai, and one each in Bengaluru and Hyderabad — were kept under observation in hospitals to check for possible exposure to the deadly coronavirus.

Seven others who returned from China have been kept under observation, Vardhan said on Saturday. Samples of these seven passengers have been sent to the ICMR-NIV Pune Lab.