Coronavirus sparks “fear” in Gujarat

Amidst the recent outbreak of coronavirus epidemic, people are in a state of panic. With flu-like symptoms, this virus has caused quite a fear amongst the public.
Coronavirus which originated from Wuhan, a city in China has spread worldwide. China has passed a death toll of 3,000. South Korea’s number of cases has neared 6,000. Italy ordered the closure of schools after the virus killed 107 people. In the US, California has declared a state of emergency over its confirmed 53 cases.
In India, there are confirmed 29 cases of Coronavirus. Delhi, Agra, Telangana, Jaipur have registered cases and Ahmedabad has new suspects for the same.
2 residents, a woman, and a man, from the Satellite area in Ahmedabad both in their 60s, have been quarantined after they were suspected to have contracted the virus. They had a recent history of traveling to Japan. Another female patient who had returned from Singapore tested negative but has been kept under observation.
At Surat International Airport, an additional security measure- thermal screening of the passengers, has been added. Due to the quick spread of the virus in North India, a protective layer has been added. The only international flights at Surat are to and from Sharjah in the United States of Emirates.
None of the 1,582 people who were under observation after returning from coronavirus-hit countries are infected, informed the Gujarat Health Department. Out of them, 25 were tested for coronavirus also known as COVID-19 all tested negative. 964 of the people came from China, 147 were from Thailand, 131 from Australia, remaining others from other countries. Extensive arrangements have been made to deal with any situation regarding coronavirus.
CM of Gujarat, Mr. Vijay Rupani tweeted – “I took stock of the preparedness to manage COVID-19 Novel Coronavirus from Chief Secretary and senior health officers of the state government”.
He updated the citizens about the thorough screening. He wrote – ” We have intensified the screening of international passengers at our airports in Surat & Ahmedabad. All district teams have readied the isolation wards as part of preparedness for #COVID19.
He creates awareness with his next tweet writing – ” Our district teams are in readiness with Cluster containment Strategy for dealing with #COVID19
Let us all resolve
– To wash hands
– Greet with Namaste
– Stop spitting in open
– Avoid crowded places
– Drink lots of fluids
– Call 104 on having symptoms of fever/cough”
He tries to calm the panicky citizens by tweeting – ” There is no absolutely need to panic. Public health facilities are geared up to meet any challenges. I request citizens to cooperate and follow the instructions issued by the administration from time to time”.
The panic has increased so much that people don’t want to take any risk and are using masks and sanitizers. Since the demand has increased 10 folds for these, so have the prices in the market. Even the prices of simple medicines for fever in Gujarat has increased.

This surge in prices by the distributors and silence by the government system and by Chemist and Druggist Association has raised doubts about their possible involvement. There’s a black market for these masks. A special N-95 type of mask is needed to prevent any virus. Earlier they were priced between Rs. 65- Rs. 70. Now due to fear of the virus, the public is being looted and the masks are currently priced between Rs. 225 – Rs. 250. Customers are also being given simple masks under the pretext of selling an N-95 mask.