Currently the whole world is suffering from this deadly virus called COVID-19 . A virus which has changed the entire living of humans and animals, a virus which took so many lives in such a short time and a virus which isn’t going to stop anytime soon. Today we’ll be looking on to some facts about this virus, we’ll be discussing the origin of COVID-19, the deaths and people affected from this virus, how contagious this virus can be, how is it being diagnosed and the measures taken by the Indian government so far to decrease the effect of this virus.

A novel strain of Corona Virus was first detected in December 2019 in Wuhan, a city in China’s Hubei province with a population of 11 million , after an outbreak of Pneumonia without an obvious cause. By far the virus has spread to over 200 countries and territories across the globe and was characterized as a pandemic by the World Health Organization on 11 March,2020. As of now, on 8th July 2020, there have been 11,620,096 confirmed cases of the virus in the world and and 538,058 of deaths. The Corona Virus belongs to a family of single-stranded RNA virus known as coronaviridae, a common type of virus which affects mammals, birds and reptile. The basic origin of this virus is unclear but in earlier study it was said to be originated in a food market in Wuhan and subsequently spread from animal to human. The Corona Virus is a contagious disease which is spreading from person to person all over the world. Now let us take on the diagnosis of this virus. As this virus affects the respiratory system, the common symptoms include cough, fever, breathing problems and sore throat. In some cases this virus can cause pneumonia too leading to kidney failure and death. A diagnostic test has been developed and countries are quarantining suspected cases. Now let’s take a look on the major steps which are taken by the government to eradicate this pandemic :

1 – The government introduced the Aarogya Setu mobile application to make aware the citizens about the virus.

2- Under its Ujjwala scheme, the government is providing free LPG refills for the next three months to over 8.3 crore poor women.

3 – The finance ministry announced that it will make an immediate release of Rs. 18,000 crore in tax refunds to individuals and businesses.

4 – Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal launched a web portal to monitor and record the initiative by the ministry to combat Corona Virus with Knowledge, Technology and Innovation(YUKTI)

5- Over 2 crore construction workers received financial support worth Rs. 3,066 crore under the building and Construction Workers’ Fund.

6 – A statement from Oil Ministry says that poor households using 5 Kg cooking gas cylinders will be entitled to eight months as a relief from the disruptions due to COVID-19 outbreak.The number of free refills will be limited to three for beneficiaries using 14.2 Kg cylinders.

7 – The government said it plans to set up a chain of 20 Lakh retail shops called “Suraksha Stores” across India which will be providing daily essentials to citizens.