New Delhi, Apr 01: Government has established a core group of experts to be vigilant on the spread of the mysterious pneumonia and requested the World Health Organisation to supply 20-25 diagnositic kits for the virus that has yet not been identified with certainty, officials said today. However, so far no case had been reported in the country, director of the national institute of communicable diseases Dr Shiv Lal told reporters here.
The core group consists of health experts from main hospitals such as AIIMS, Ram Manohar Lohia and Safdarjung Hospital. It would keep track of the developments and any possible cases, Lal said.
The diagnostic kits are not yet ready and work was on in that direction in German, he said adding that not many kits would be needed if the virus enters the country.

These would be needed only to identify the virus initially. The NICD labs had the capability to rule out other common viruses if such cases are reported, he said.
Meanwhile, the centre has asked the state governments to alert the health officials there. Delhi government has also issued directions to hospitals under its jurisdiction.
Lal said that people coming to India from the countries where the infection has been reported were being screened at the airports. If any such case is detected, he/she would be isolated and treated at one of the hospitals.
Home ministry had issued a travel advisory to Indian embassies in other countries on the infection so that people boarding flights to India could be advised, he said.
Bureau Report