New Delhi, March 13 (IANS): Amid the coronavirus scare in the country, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday slammed the government over the rising number of COVID cases in the country and "inadequate measures" taken by the government to contain the damage.

Speaking to the media in Parliament, Tharoor said: "The situation is already alarming and no one knows what the fatality rate is. We have thousands of cases in the country, but we don't have their details. All the testing is being done by the Pune lab. Yesterday the Minister said that other labs were also being readied. Where are the labs?"

Earlier Rahul Gandhi too attacked the government over rising number of coronavirus in the country. "Coronavirus is a huge problem. Ignoring the problem is not a solution," the former Congress chief tweeted.

Gandhi also accused Prime Minister Modi for being clueless on the issue. "Our Prime Minister is clueless and is sleeping. There is no preparation. The government is sleeping. They don't realise that coronavirus is spreading in this country. It's going to have devastating consequences," Gandhi told media persons on Thursday.

Responding to accusations, Union Health Minister Dr Harshvardhan had tweeted: "India has pulled out all stops as far as action on COVID19 goes. Nation stands together in critical health emergency... but @RahulGandhi ji continues to play petty politics."

Over 70 cases, including one death and three recoveries, of novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) have been reported in India so far. The symptoms are flu-like -- cough, cold, pneumonia and breathlessness.