Need to be vigilant on Coronavirus and not panic: AIIMS Director

New Delhi: The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Friday said there is no need to panic or fear about the Novel Coronavirus (CoV) disease for the people in India.

Speaking to IANS, AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria said: "Mortality due to Novel Coronavirus may not be high but we still need to be vigilant because we don't want it to spread rapidly here. The important issue here is to have good control to prevent the infection from spreading."

"So if there is a suspected person he must be isolated. Good infection control measures should be taken and you should try to prevent human to human spread so that the infection doesn't spread to the community and, therefore, leads to an outbreak," he said.

Guleria also said that "if lots of precautionary measures are taken we can prevent it coming to India or contain it if the infection occurs in India. We are vigilant. We have our own isolation facility. We are all prepared to manage if there is suspected case and to isolate and to take precautions so that healthcare workers are also protected.

"But every case doesn't need to be investigated for Coronavirus because this time it is winter and a lot of people have fever, cough and cold which is normal flu and that doesn't mean that if you have fever cough and cold, you have Coronavirus because it is in China. Unless someone comes in contact with an infected person, there is no need to worry or panic. A normal person who has not travelled to China and has not come in contact with such an individual need not worry because the virus cannot travel on its own."

Talking about the difference between the Novel Coronavirus and seasonal flu he said the "difference between the standard Coronavirus and Novel Coronavirus is that a lot of people have some immunity to seasonal flu therefore they don't get infection. But this virus is novel, therefore chances of getting infection are high." (IANS)

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