While panic over the coronavirus outbreak must always be avoided, downplaying concerns over a disease that is spreading fast, and in unpredictable ways, can have serious consequences.

On March 17, guidelines developed jointly by the WHO, UNHRC, IFRC, and the IOM mentioned that this set of people may find it more difficult to access healthcare facilities that are otherwise available to the general population.

Scientists around the world are looking for a vaccine and drugs to combat the novel coronavirus. What are these various approaches and the signals so far?

Early research from Italy and China suggests that COVID-19 patients who died those countries were more likely to have had pre-existing health conditions, namely diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and cardiovascular diseases.

On Friday, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging that the NPR updation be postponed.

The strategy document is based on the consideration that India has witnessed only imported cases of the illness, with limited local transmission to immediate contacts.

Plane travel is often blamed for making travellers ill, but a new study suggests that the germs may actually be closer to the ground.

What we know so far is that the coronavirus severely affects the elderly but Africa has a younger population than Europe. This is reassuring for the continent despite its high mortality rates.

For residents of many slum colonies situated across Mumbai it is not possible to put into practice any of the protective measures against COVID-19 prescribed by the WHO, including social distancing.

Governors in several American states have issued executive orders aimed at slowing the spread of the virus, asking people to stay at home as much as possible, and enacting rules to limit the sizes of gatherings, and putting curbs on older Americans with underlying…

The hydroxychloroquine-azithromycin combination has shown some success in a very small study. But the evidence is thin, and India does not prescribe this cocktail.

Community spread implies that the virus is now circulating in the community, and can infect people with no history — either of travel to affected areas, or of contact with the infected person.

Social stigma can drive people to hide the illness to avoid discrimination, prevent them from seeking health care immediately, and discourage them from adopting healthy behaviours, the document explains.

For most of the states the lockdown will be in force from Monday morning till March 31 midnight. But what does a lockdown mean in the Indian context? 

Globally, more than 3,00,000 people have been infected and the death toll has crossed over 13,000. The Epidemic Diseases Act is routinely enforced across the country for dealing with outbreaks of diseases such as swine flu, dengue, and cholera.

As the COVID-19 outbreak progresses, India’s concerns are about eventual community transmission. How and when does a pandemic reach this stage, and how has it been progressing in other countries so far?

Worldwide, many governments have announced large spending programmes to help individuals and businesses stay afloat.

A paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Tuesday has come out with new information on the longevity of the virus in the air — and on different surfaces.

There is no evidence that vitamin C can prevent an infection. Vitamin C is, however, still good for you, and can help the body’s immune system fight the virus if it does infect someone. But again, there is no evidence that it can cure a patient either.