The densely populated subcontinent with its poor medical infrastructure is ill equipped for a contagion. FMTNews India Cirus Epidemic Quarantine Coronavirus Covid19
MUMBAI: India has ramped up the screening of travellers to keep the coronavirus at bay but a flurry of new cases has experts warning that it may be hard to contain a spread in densely populated South Asia with its generally poor medical infrastructure.
“The way Indian society is structured, the kind of lockdown that many countries including China and Japan have instituted, is pretty much impossible even under good circumstances,” said Vivekanand Jha, executive director of the George Institute for Public Health, in New Delhi.The coronavirus, which emerged in China late last year, has infected more than 95,000 people globally, and killed more than 3,200, most of them in China.
Fears were fanned this week when India’s health minister disclosed that 16 foreign tourists who have tested positive had been touring since mid-February. India’s high number of diabetics – 77 million – and high rates of problems like kidney disease could lead to higher morbidity, or protracted treatment, experts said.
“Coronavirus is a challenge, but the government of India has taken all initiatives to ensure that it is stopped,” said D V Sadananda Gowda, minister of chemicals, who oversees the pharmaceuticals sector. Bangladesh has not confirmed any cases of the coronavirus but five Bangladeshi workers have tested positive in Singapore.
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