Ram Madhav lauds Health Minister Harsh Vardhan's efforts to contain coronavirus

BJP general secretary Ram Madhav on Wednesday lauded Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan's efforts to contain novel coronavirus and termed the virus as "less-deadly" than several previous ones.

"Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan's efforts to contain Coronavirus are praiseworthy. India is proactively battling it out. What is needed is caution n precaution, not panic. It is a less-deadly virus than several previous ones. Follow health ministry guidelines; be safe n healthy," Madhav tweeted.

Addressing a press conference here, Harsh Vardhan said till now there are 28 cases of coronavirus in the country and added that universal screening of all international flights will begin to control the spread of the deadly virus.

"Till yesterday, we have screened about 5.89 lakh passengers at airports, over 15 thousand at major and minor seaports and over 10 lakh at the borders with Nepal. About 27 thousand were under community surveillance until yesterday," he said.

Global deaths due to coronavirus outbreak on Monday rose above 3,000 with the new count in China mainland rising to 2,912.

The deadly virus, that originated in China late last year, continues to spread around the world and has infected more than 80,000 people.