The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Tuesday applauded the Indian government’s commitment to combat the novel coronavirus, which has recently been declared a pandemic.
The entire world is in a state of shock after the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak impacted lakhs of people’s lives. By far, the virus has affected over 1.6 lakh people globally and the global death toll has risen to at least 6,600.
Henk Bekedam, the WHO Representative to India, held a meeting with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), where he praised the apex medical research institute for managing to isolate the strains of Sars-Cov-2.
“I think the commitment of the Indian government from the top level — the Prime Minister’s office himself — has been enormous, very impressive. This is one of the reasons why India is doing very well. I am very impressed that everyone has been mobilised,” Bekedam said.
“We have very good research capacity in India and especially at the ICMR and the Department of Health Research. They have been able to isolate the virus, (and) now India will continue to be part of the research community,” he added.
ICMR has been constantly working on preventing the spread of the virus. Last week, the ICMR made an announcement that they have successfully isolated the new strain of coronavirus. They are making all necessary efforts to develop drugs and vaccines for COVID-19.
In India alone, the confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 have surpassed 140, while 3 people have died in the country from the infection.
Recently, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a video conference with SAARC leaders on containing the deadly virus and extended $10 million as India’s contribution for a Covid-19 emergency fund. PM Modi made significant suggestions during the video conference.
China too is finding it tough to bring the widespread infectious disease under control. India, on the other hand, has evacuated nearly 1,400 Indians from different countries. India also helped some citizens of neighbouring countries by evacuating them from coronavirus-hit nations. Taking further steps, the Indian government has put a restriction on all tourist visas in the wake of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
PM Modi asked the citizens not to panic and asserted that the Indian government is taking necessary steps to prevent the fast-spreading disease.
