PANAJI: Goa Medical College & Hospital (GMC) in its Facebook post on Monday stated it has issued a "call for vigilance" regarding Coronavirus and is closely monitoring any cases in the state of Goa. “To take cognizance of Coronavirus in the state of Goa, Dean Prof S M Bandekar took a review meeting to discuss various ways to control and prevent the Virus. We will be constantly checking on the health and well-being of our citizens and if any cases flare up, patients will be transferred to the Corona Isolation ward for further treatment,” the GMC FB post stated. Additionally, the hospital pharmacy has been stocked up with the necessary materials. “It is our humble request to not create panic and look out for onset symptoms of the virus which includes fever, cough, and breathing difficulties,” it stated. On 31 December 2019, WHO was alerted to several cases of pneumonia in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China. The virus did not match any other known virus. This raised concern because when a virus is new, it is not known how it affects people. “One week later, on 7 January, Chinese authorities confirmed that they had identified a new virus. The new virus is a Coronavirus, which is a family of viruses that include the common cold, and viruses such as SARS and MERS. This new virus was temporarily named ‘2019-nCoV’,” the WHO has stated in its website. The death toll from the Wuhan Coronavirus now stands at 80, with almost 2,800 cases confirmed across China, as the country initiates emergency procedures to try and rein in the pathogen's global spread. Making that task more difficult is the fact that the virus can be spread before any symptoms appear, Chinese health authorities said Sunday, meaning carriers may not realise they are infected before they transmit the virus to others.