Heena Sharma Blog

Two more positive cases of the novel coronavirus -- one in Delhi and another in Telangana -were reported, the Union Health Ministry said on Monday. The person from Delhi had travelled to Italy, it said adding he is being diagnosed at RML hospital. The other person with the coronavirus infection has a travel history to Dubai, the ministry added. The number of deaths globally in the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak crossed 3,000 on Monday, as China reported 42 more deaths. The total number of confirmed Coronavirus cases worldwide is around 80,000 now. The new fatalities were all in the virus epicentre Hubei province of China, the National Health Commission said. In China, the number of reported new cases has gradually been declining and there were only six confirmed new infections outside Hubei. However, South Korea today reported 476 new Coronavirus cases, taking its national tally to 4,212, while the US reported its second death from the virus. Infections have nearly double...

As the deadly coronavirus has spread worldwide, it has carried with it xenophobia -- and Asian communities around the world are finding themselves subject to suspicion and fear. When a patient on Australia's Gold Coast refused to shake the hand of her surgeon Rhea Liang, citing the virus that has killed hundreds, the medic's first response was shock. But after tweeting about the incident and receiving a flood of responses, the respected doctor learned her experience was all too common. There has been a spike in reports of anti-Chinese rhetoric directed at people of Asian origin, regardless of whether they have ever visited the centre of the epidemic or been in contact with the virus. Chinese tourists have reportedly been spat at in the Italian city of Venice, a family in Turin was accused of carrying the disease, and mothers in Milan have used social media to call for children to be kept away from Chinese classmates. In Canada, a white man was filmed telling a C...