It will take minimum 1.5 to 2 years to develope vaccines for coronavirus, the officials said on Thursday while addressing the virus outbreak situation in India.
“We have managed to isolate the coronavirus, we have 11 such isolates,” said the Union Ministry of Health.
Health ministry also requested people to not panic while asking them to maintain effective social distance as a protection against coronavirus.
“Mask is not always necessary, if a person maintains effective social distance, mask is not needed. There is no need to panic,” said Luv Aggarwal, Health Ministry, in a press conference.
“Right now, luckily for India, we do not have any community transmission. We have only a few cases that have come from outside and they have primarily affected their close family members,” he said.
So far, 73 positive coronavirus cases have been reported in India out of which, 56 are Indians and 17 are foreigners.
India has also evacuated 900 Indians from other countries.
“The Government of India has evacuated 900 Indian citizens along with 48 belonging to other nations like Maldives, Myanmar, Bangladesh, China, US, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Nepal, South Africa, and Peru,” Aggarwal added.
Three planes will be sent to Iran over next three days to bring back Indians stranded in the coronavirus-hit country.