The outbreak of coronavirus in Wuhan has emerged as a major health emergency. As per official Chinese news agencies, total deaths reported so far are 25. The Wuhan city now stands lockdown and China has added nine more cities to transport ban. An estimated 32 million people have been reported to be affected by this deadly virus. This is certainly a health emergency to South Asia the most densely populated region of the world where restriction of population to a particular city or region is near impossible. As per Al Jazeera, apart from China the deadly disease has spread to Thailand, South Korea and even the United States. The map of spread of corona virus in China is depicted by a map issued by The Washington Post.
The Washington Post Map of Spread of Corona Virus
What is important is to curtail visits to and from China, because it is very difficult to contain such contagious disease to an epicentre at a time when there is continuous movement of goods and people from the epicentre to outside and vice versa. The infection has spread out of Wuhan and it is taking shape of epidemic or even pandemic and countries like India, Bangladesh and Pakistan are vulnerable due to density of the population and difficulty in quarantining such huge population.
It is worth considering to restrict imports from China unless extremely essential. Trade can resume once the World Health Organisation lifts the emergency and declares that disease is eliminated or controlled. It may lead to economic slowdown at a time when global economies are going through a dip, but in the larger interest of the global community, trade from China must be halted temporarily. One of the main reasons is that China has not been transparent on issues of internal stability and more often in denial on such emergencies. As a result there is a danger that China may hide facts and put entire world at risk of contamination by this disease. It is a serious issue and can spiral out of control if facts are hidden by China and goods from infected regions are exported.
What should India do at this stage? India must issue health advisory to people visiting China, so that the visits are reduced to minimum to avoid exposure of own citizens to this deadly virus. Even those who have visited China must be put through health examination and it must be made obligatory for incoming visitors to declare if they had visited China recently. India must also start making contingency plans how to isolate infected citizens and stocking of medicines and essential screening equipment at designated health centres. Non state actors can take advantage of this critical health emergency and use it to cause terror by this potent disease.