India has tremendous capacity to fight against COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak: WHO

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World Health Organisation (WHO) Executive Director Michael J Ryan said on Tuesday (March 24) that India has played an important role in eradicating two pandemics, namely small-pox and polio and the country can use its past experience to deal with the outbreak of coronavirus. According to Ryan, India has a tremendous capacity to tackle the coronavirus outbreak situation and win the battle against the deadly virus.

"There is a need in the number of labs where a surge is seen. India is a very populous country and the future of this virus will be considered in a very highly and densely populated country. India led the world in eradicating two pandemics, small-pox and polio so India has a tremendous capacity," J Ryan said during a daily press brief on COVID-19 pandemic.

"There are no easy answers. It is exceptionally important that countries like India show the way to the world as they have done before," he added.

Meanwhile, both Centre and state governments are taking several measures to curb the spread of coronavirus in the country. On Monday (March 23), 30 states and Union Territories, covering 548 districts, were put under loockdown to check the spread of the deadly virus. Three states/UTs, however, have imposed lockdown in certain areas of their territories covering as many as 58 districts.

Curfew has been imposed in Punjab, Maharashtra, and Puducherry on Monday (March 23) as state governments acted with a sense of urgency to strictly enforce the restrictions on the movement of people, deploying police on streets, sealing borders and booking violators.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray also imposed the curfew across the state to check the spread of coronavirus. Issuing a message to people of Maharashtra, through social media, Thackeray said, "Today I am compelled to announce a statewide curfew. People were not listening and we are compelled." 

The state governments warned people to follow the lockdown seriously or risk facing tough legal actions. The governments took the tough steps amid concerns that people were not following the restrictions seriously, prompting the Centre to ask the states to take strict legal action against those defying the curbs and increasing the risk of community transmission as the number of cases mounted to above 430 on Tuesday.