Exceptional situations require exceptional responses:  External Affairs Minister on COVID-19 measures

Union Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar on Thursday said in the Lok Sabha that “exceptional situations require exceptional responses.” He was speaking on the measures taken by the Centre to check the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in India. The current situation in India is a “matter of concern”, he said as the number of positive COVID-19 patients increased to 73 on Thursday.
The Centre on Wednesday issued an advisory which suspended the visas of foreign nationals from March 13 to April 15 in order to contain the spread of the virus.
It has also asked the states to implement the Epidemic Disease Act, 1897 which makes flouting of health-related regulations is a punishable offence.
Jaishankar stated that the primary concern for Centre now is to bring back around 1,000 Indian pilgrims stranded in Iran. Around 6,000 Indians are stranded in Iran currently. A batch of 58 Indians was brought back on Tuesday.
Over 4,500 people have died and over one lakh people have been infected across 100 countries from COVID-19 which was declared a pandemic on Wednesday by the World Health Organization (WHO).

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