Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth advise caution, say no need to panic against coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak

New Delhi: Even as novel coronavirus COVID-19 spread across the world and cases rise in India, ace shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth stressed on the importance of taking necessary precautions in the next two weeks to contain the spread of the disease which has affected more than 1.8 lakh people across the world and resulted in the death of over 7,1000.

"Let's be cautious and stay at home. These next couple of weeks are an important phase for India. All of us need to learn from what the other countries have experienced and take the necessary precautions ASAP," Saina wrote on her twitter handle on Monday.

Let’s be cautious and stay at home . These next couple of weeks are an important phase for India . All of us need to learn from what the other countries have experienced and take the necessary precautions ASAP .#Coronaindia #CoronaPandemic https://t.co/NZmSFd7Y9Q — Saina Nehwal (@NSaina) March 16, 2020

Former world Number 1 Kidambi Srikanth also took to twitter, urging people to help each other instead of panicking. "In this tough time of #Covid_19 pandemic, let's make sure we don't panic and try our best to help each other. Let's maintain hygiene and be a responsible citizen!," he wrote.

In this tough time of #Covid_19 pandemic, let’s make sure we don’t panic and try our best to help each other.
Let’s maintain hygiene and be a responsible citizen!#IndiaFightsCorona

— Kidambi Srikanth (@srikidambi) March 16, 2020

The disease has led to either cancellation or postponement of all sports events the world over in the Olympic year. In India, the shooting World Cup and Indian Open Golf was postponed, while badminton's India Open was also deferred after Badminton World Federation (BWF) suspended all World Tour and sanctioned events.

All the cricket series including the second and third India-South Africa One-Day Internationals have been deferred. Europe has suspended all football leagues including Champions League matches.