Coping with coronavirus

Sensible responses require addressing known unknowns

The government’s swift and sensible response to the coronavirus outbreak, which the World Health Organization has finally designated a pandemic, offers some reassurance that India may escape the more deleterious impact that has afflicted the rest of the world. The government has issued a blanket ban on tourist visas from all countries and halted visa-free entry for Overseas Citizens of India till April 15. It has also asked all states and Union Territories to invoke the provisions of the Epidemic Diseases Act. This legislation of 1897 enables the states to take temporary measures (including suspending existing laws) to prevent the