Amid the novel coronavirus outbreak, the cabinet secretary on Wednesday said all states and Union Territories should invoke provisions of Section 2 of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 by means of which all advisories issued by the Union health ministry and state governments from time to time are enforceable.
The decision was taken at a meeting organised here by thecabinet secretary. It was attended by secretaries of departments concerned,representatives from Army, ITBP among others.
“It was decided that all states/UTs should be advised byMoHFW to invoke provisions of Section 2 of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 sothat all advisories being issued from time to time by the Ministry of HealthWelfare/State/UTs are enforceable,” the ministry said in a statement.
Besides, the high-level Group of Ministers (GOM) constitutedon the directions of the prime minister to review, monitor and evaluate thepreparedness and measures taken regarding management of COVID-19 also held itsmeeting here on Wednesday.
The meeting was held under the chairpersonship of UnionHealth Minister Harsh Vardhan.
Minister of Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister ofExternal Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Minister of State for HomeNityananda Rai were also present in the meeting.
A presentation of the status of COVID-19 was made to theGOM.
The action taken for prevention and management of COVID-19in India were presented which included information about the various traveladvisories issued in view of the evolving global situation regarding thedisease, the ministry said in a statement.
As a measure of prevention, it is reiterated that passengerswith travel history to China, Hong Kong, Republic of Korea, Japan, Italy,Thailand, Singapore, Iran, Malaysia, France, Spain and Germany should undergoself-imposed quarantine for a period of 14 days from the date of their arrival,and their employers should facilitate work-from-home for such employees duringthis period, the ministry said.
Health secretary Preeti Sudan apprised the GoM that thestates/UTs are advised to do rigorous IEC (Information, Education andCommunication) and make people aware about the precautions, symptoms andhelpline numbers.
CORONAVIRUS CASES TOUCH 60 IN INDIA:
India reported 10 new cases of the coronavirus, taking thenumber to 60 on Wednesday, the Union health ministry said, even as Indiaprohibited till March 31 entry of international cruise ships, crew or passengerwith a travel history to coronavirus-hit nations.
However, as per state health officials, the number ofconfirmed cases maybe up to 65.
As the infection continued to spread its tentacles in thecountry, state governments and UTs took number of initiatives to check andprevent the spread of the infection.
While Jammu and Kashmir administration ordered closure ofschools and aganwadi centres and shutting down of cinema halls across theregion till 31 March as a precautionary measure, Karnataka government issuedtemporary regulation which asked all government and private hospitals to haveflu corners for screening of suspected cases of COVID-19.
According to the regulation, no person/institution shall useprint or electronic media to spread mis-information on COVID-19 without priorpermission of the Department of Health & Family Welfare. If a person isfound indulging in any such activity, they will be punished, it said. TheKarnataka government also started a campaign called ‘Namaste over Handshake’that encourages people to greet in the traditional Indian style, to tackle thespread of the virus.
As the cases of the infection continued to swell with over119,400 confirmed cases reported globally so far out of which over 4,300 peoplehave succumbed to the virus, India prohibited entry of any international cruiseship, crew or passenger with a travel history to coronavirus-hit countries postFebruary 1, 2020 to its major ports till March 31.
To prevent the spread of the deadly virus, the Ministry ofShipping said it will allow only such international cruise ships which hadintimated their call to ports by January 1, 2020.
The government said international cruise ships will beallowed only at ports having thermal screening facilities for passengers andcrew members. Among the fresh cases,eight were from Kerala and one each from Delhi and Rajasthan since Tuesday, theUnion health ministry said and gave state-wise breakup which included five(Delhi), nine (Uttar Pradesh), four (Karnataka) and two in Ladakh.
While the Union ministry maintained that there are twoconfirmed cases of the infection in Maharashtra, the state health officials putthe number to seven.
Rajasthan, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir andPunjab have reported one case each, the ministry said, adding Kerala has tillnow reported 17 cases, including the three patients who were discharged lastmonth following recovery.
The total number of 60 confirmed cases includes 16 Italianstourists, the ministry said.
Two employees working with IT companies Dell and Mindtreehave been tested positive for coronavirus, according to company statements.However, their locations were not disclosed.
The Dell employee had returned from the US, including avisit to Texas while the Mindtree employee also had a travel history abroad,the two companies said in separate statements.
Making a statement in Rajya Sabha, External Affairs MinisterS Jaishankar said the situation in Italy and Iran is “a cause of greatconcern” and the government is making all efforts to bring back Indiansafter appropriate testing and screening.
He said a medical team will leave for Italy tomorrow forscreening Indians.
Noting that the disease has spread to about 90 countries,Jaishankar said if the government starts the process of bringing back Indiansworldwide, then it will only add to the panic.
An Air Indian flight carrying 83 people, including nineforeigners of India origin, arrived here on Wednesday from Italy and have beenquarantined at the Army facility in Manesar near Delhi, officials said.
The evacuees will be monitored for two weeks by a qualifiedteam of doctors and staff members, to watch for any signs of infection.”Ifany individual is suspected to be infected, he/she will be shifted to anisolation facility,” an official added.
Daily medical examination of all 83 people will be done atthe facility, they said.
The first batch of 58 evacuees from Iran had arrived onTuesday with 25 men, 31 women and 2 children on board and all evacuees areasymptomatic at present, the ministry said.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, who spoke to a fewCOVID-19 patients admitted at Medanta and Safdarjung hospitals through videocalls on Tuesday, said all those infected by the disease were stable andshowing signs of recovery.