Originating in ancient Greece and using herbal remedies, dietary practices, and alternative therapies, Unani medicine is commonly used to prevent and treat disease in India. In a clarifying statement, the Ministry said that the advice it had given was meant as a “preventive measure” and did not claim to be “a treatment advice for the coronavirus infection”. The full statement read: “Ayush system is based on traditional health practices.

“The traditional healthcare system of the country provides lifestyle advocacies to boost immunity, which helps in the prevention of various kinds of infectious diseases.

“Recently, the outbreak of coronavirus (2019-nCoV) has been noticed which mainly involves the respiratory system.

“The ministry of Ayush is issuing the advisory as preventive measure and not claiming to be a treatment advice for the Coronavirus infection.”

India’s Health Ministry refused to comment, but last week said that it had tested over nine thousand travellers for the coronavirus.

Officials claimed that no cases of the virus were detected, and issued advice to those returning from trips to China to report to the nearest health facility in the event they started to feel unwell.

The Health Ministry also instructed authorities at the seven airports of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Cochin to screen those travelling from China.

The present outbreak of the lethal virus started in Wuhan, China, the epicentre of which is believed to be a seafood market in the city.

Latest figures from China have confirmed that 170 have died as a result of contracting the virus, up from 132 on Wednesday.

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Authorities have also confirmed that they now know more on how the virus is spread.

At a press conference an Australian official told reporters: “In terms of walking past people in the street who may or may not be infected.

“That is also totally virtually safe. We’re talking about really close contact over a period of time.

“That’s an important message that people should take.”

Meanwhile, businesses in China are taking emergency measures in a bid to help stop the spread of the disease.

The Swedish furniture giant IKEA said that it is temporarily closing all its stores in the country.

This represents a drastic change from its position on Wednesday, when the firm said it would close only half of its stores and shorten working hours.

Major airlines have suspended travel to China and Oreo maker Mondelez has shut down two factories in China for 10 days, highlighting corporate concerns about the spread of the virus.

Asian stocks also continued to plummet in the wake of the epidemic, as fears about the impact of the coronavirus on Asian economies preyed on the mind of investors.