Watch Video! Health Ministry briefs the media on Coronavirus situation in the country

The 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic was confirmed to have spread to India on 30 January 2020 from China. There have since been a total of 73 confirmed cases in the country, with many of them having travel history either with Italy or the Middle East. 

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India: Total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases across India (including foreign nationals) is 73.

Watch Video: Health Ministry briefs the media on Coronavirus situation in the country:

WATCH: Health Ministry briefs the media on #coronavirus situation in the country https://t.co/UZ87HzOTy8

— ANI (@ANI) March 12, 2020

Highlights from the brief of Health Ministry to media on Coronavirus: 

• Visa-free travel facility granted to Overseas Citizen Of India (OCI) cardholders are kept in abeyance till 15th April 2020. This will come into effect from 1200 GMT on 13th March 2020 at the port of departure.
   
• Out of the 73 positive cases reported in India so far, 56 are Indians and 17 are foreigners.
   
• So far, the Government of India has evacuated 900 Indian citizens along with 48 belonging to other nations like Maldives, Myanmar, Bangladesh, China, US, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Nepal, South Africa, and Peru.
   
• 52 testing facilities are located across the country. There are a total of 56 sample collection centers.
   
• Around 1 lakh testing kits available, additional testing kits have already been ordered and they are also in procurement.
   
• Mask is not always necessary, if a person maintains effective social distance, mask is not needed. There is no need to panic.
   
• Right now, luckily for India it does not have any community transmission. It has only a few cases that have come from outside & they have primarily affected their close family members.
   
• Indian Council of Medical Research: We have managed to isolate the coronavirus, we have 11 such isolates. Vaccines will take a minimum of 1.5 to 2 years.
   
• All facts about the virus are still being studied. There are no confirmatory studies. It is generally expected that the virus, if it is in higher temperatures may have difficulty in surviving, but it is not confirmed.