The government has declared the novel coronavirus outbreak in the country a "notified disaster", in a move it called "a special one-time dispensation", in order to provide compensation and aid to infected people and the families of those who killed by the virus. Funds for this and other measures will be drawn from the Disaster Response Funds (SDRF) of each state.
A 68-year-old woman has died of coronavirus in Delhi, the government said on Friday, in the second death linked to the global pandemic in the country. The woman was the sixth case of coronavirus to be reported from the capital and had other conditions including high blood pressure and diabetes. A resident of West Delhi, she had come in contact with her son who had contracted the virus after travelling to Switzerland and Italy last month.
On Friday, US President Donald Trump announced a national state of emergency, freeing up $50 billion in federal funds for the battle against the coronavirus pandemic as he vowed to "vastly" ramp up testing capacity. "To unleash the full power of the federal government, I'm officially declaring a national emergency," Trump told a news conference on the White House lawn.
Around 4,000 people who had come in contact with the infected people have been identified and were being tracked while 42,000 people across the country are under community surveillance, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health Lav Aggarwal said at a news conference. The World Health Organization meanwhile said that Europe was now the "epicentre" for the global coronavirus pandemic that has now killed more than 5,000 people, with cases around the world topping 1.34 lakh, according to news agency AFP.