RSS cancels meet of highest decision-making body in wake of Coronavirus, seeks cooperation

Amid the deadly coronavirus outbreak, the annual meet of the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS), the highest decision-making body of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, has been called off by the General Secretary of RSS Suresh (Bhayyaji) Joshi on Saturday. The meed was scheduled March 15 to 17 in Bengaluru. 

The seventh ABPS meet was supposed to be conducted by Suresh Joshi, Sarkaryvah Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, in the presence of Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat. Also, presidents and other state office bearers of 35 Parivar organisations like VHP (Justice Vishnu Sadashiva Kokje and Alok Kumar), ABVP (Prof Subbaiah Shanmugam), Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (Saji Narayanan), Vidya Bharati (Ramakrishna Rao), Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram (Jagadev Rao Oraon), BJP (J P Nadda) and Sakshama (Dyal Singh Pawar) were supposed to participate in the event.

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Coronavirus in India

As of date, the total number of positive cases in India has soared to 88, while two deaths have also been reported, in Kalaburagi and West Delhi respectively. 

India has suspended all visas, barring for a few categories such as diplomatic and employment apart from keeping in abeyance the visa-free travel facility to OCI cardholders till April 15. Moreover, the Centre has “strongly advised” Indians to avoid all non-essential travel abroad. The government is also monitoring all suspected cases and issued preventive advisories. 

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The Coronavirus crisis

First detected in Wuhan in December 2019, COVID-19- the novel coronavirus has affected nearly 118 countries in the world. Presently, there are over 1,24,518 confirmed cases of COVID-19 which has led to the death of 4,607 people. As there is no vaccine or specific antiviral medicine to treat COVID-19, countries have been grappling with all possible mechanisms to contain its scope. So far, China, South Korea, Italy, and Iran have witnessed the most number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus.

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