Jeypore: While the Novel Coronavirus (nCoV) outbreak in China is keeping the world in tenterhooks, a scientist from Odisha and his wife residing in China had a safe escape from the deadly virus just days before the outbreak.
As per reports, Manas Baxi, a native of Baxi Sahi in Jeypore of Koraput district is a scientist by profession and along with his wife Pratima Sahoo, he was residing in Xiamen under Fujian province of People’s Republic of China.
Baxi has been in China from 2017 and was in Beijing before shifting to Xiamen with his wife in August 2019.
Narrating his experience on the outbreak of Coronavirus in China, Baxi said, “The first report of an infectious virus affecting people was received on December 15 and it was declared to be lethal on December 30. Coronavirus infection was reported first in Hubei province and later it spread in Wuhan affecting a large number of people. We came back to India on January 17.”
“Almost all Indians in my contact have returned back but one of my friends residing in Beijing is still there as the area is not infected. However, Xiamen is the safest place in China and there are no reports of any infection there,” informed Baxi.
“We had plans to return to China on February 8 but had to cancel the air tickets as the outbreak is yet to be contained. We are now planning to return on March 8,” said Baxi.
As per the latest statistics, the death toll on account of the Coronavirus outbreak in China has climbed to 2,118 with 74,576 confirmed cases.