With China reporting an outbreak of a novel corona virus, the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine has instructed doctors to look out for symptoms of influenza-like illnesses, regardless of patient travel history to the affected country. Tamil Nadu already has in place a screening mechanism for influenza-like illnesses, and doctors have been told to stay alert, look out for symptoms of respiratory infections, fever and cough and ask for the travel history of patients. Corona viruses are species of virus belonging to the subfamily Coronavirinae in the family Coronaviridae, in the order Nidovirales. Corona viruses are enveloped viruses with a positive-sense single-stranded RNA genome and with a nucleocapsid of helical symmetry.
