The virus that emerged in China's Wuhan in December last has now spread to over 130 countries and infected about 140,000 people worldwide, the World Health Organization (WHO) said. The WHO has taken the rare step to call this a pandemic. The Government has decided to treat the coronavirus outbreak in India as a notified disaster for the purpose of providing assistance under the State Disaster Response Fund. The repercussions of the spread of COVID-19 are already being felt all around us with trillions of dollars wiped off from global financial markets this week.