Dr Ravi Malik, Chairman of Media Cell, Indian Association of Paediatrics said that while children mortality rates are high when affected by a respiratory virus, but the same is not true in the case of coronavirus.
"Generally, most of the respiratory viruses specifically affect the children and mortality is more among them but this is not true for coronavirus. There is no need to fear, it is a preventable disease," Dr Malik told ANI.
He added, "There is no situation where we should panic or get scared. Right now, India is in stage-II and there are no reports suggesting that Coronavirus is taking epidemic proportions in India."
He later stated that the public must take precautions; to maintain respiratory and hand hygiene. "We have to maintain a distance of 1 metre from anybody who is having a cold, cough or is sneezing. With regards to hand hygiene, we should wash our hands carefully--there is no need of any hand sanitisers, the only thing we need is free-flowing water and soap," he advised.
He further said that only two types of people need to wear masks; a person who is infected by the virus and the person who is with the infected person. He added: "There is no need to take expensive masks for the general public. A healthy individual is not required to wear a mask."
With regards to the effect coronavirus may have on children, he said: "Our nation is well prepared to deal with the situation. We also need to take the cooperation of neighbouring countries as well, take ideas and pool in ideas in order to tackle coronavirus."
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He was upbeat about the Prime Minister's address to the nation regarding the Coronavirus. He said: "It is a good thing that the Prime Minister is communicating with the nation. The PM knows a lot of things about the Coronavirus so he will give a message to the public at large."
The total number of positive cases of COVID-19 in India stands at 167 (including 25 foreigners), 4 deaths (1 each) in Delhi, Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.