From Wuhan to Noida, coronavirus threat gets closer

Noida, March 3 (IANS) Till last month, coronavirus was some distant phenomenon for Indians, with US President Donald Trump and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella visiting the country amid roaring applause. After just a week, the threat has hit two prestigious Noida schools and top Delhi hotels.

It is impossible now to find out how many Indians have travelled to Italy, Iran and South Korea -- the new epicentres of COVID-19 as China locked itself down long back -- in the past couple of weeks and how many foreigners arrived in the country from these nations as virus carriers.

Health authorities and concerned officials are now chasing the trail of those infected with COVID-19 but this won't suffice as India has, indeed, entered an "uncharted territory."

The panic began seeping in the moment news broke of an Italy-return man testing positive for novel coronavirus in the national capital. The man had thrown a birthday party for his son on February 28, and several other students of the Shriram Millennium School in Noida, where his child studies, had participated in the celebrations.