It's not confirmed coronavirus won't survive during summer: Health Ministry

The Union Health Ministry on Thursday said that it is generally expected that coronavirus may have difficulty in surviving in higher temperatures but it is not confirmed.

"All facts about it 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," said Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Union Health.

Aggarwal said right now for India there's no community transmission, there are only a few cases that have come from outside and they have primarily affected their close kin.

Speaking on the current situation due to COVID-19 in the country, Lav Aggarwal said that Visa-free travel facility granted to Overseas Citizen Of India (OCI) cardholders are kept in abeyance till April 15, 2020. This will come into effect from 1200 GMT on March 13, 2020, at the port of departure.

"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," said Aggarwal.

"52 testing facilities are located across the country. There are a total of 56 sample collection centres. We already have around 1 lakh testing kits available, additional testing kits have already been ordered and they are also in procurement," he added.

The Joint Secretary added that the mask is not always necessary, if a person maintains effective social distance, the mask is not needed. There is no need to panic.

With fresh cases reported from Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Ladakh, the number of people who are COVID-19 positive has gone up to 73, the Union health ministry said on Thursday.