Hospital staff is seen outside the Special Isolation Ward set up for the coronavirus (CoV), in Hyderabad.
Over a dozen people are being monitored in isolation wards of hospitals in various cities including Delhi and Mumbai for possible exposure to a deadly strain of coronavirus that has killed 106 people and infected over 4,000 in China. In Kerala, over 400 people have been kept under surveillance at their homes for possible exposure to the virus. Authorities have screened nearly 30,000 passengers at various airports across the country so far for the virus that has sparked a global scare with cases being reported as far as the US and Europe. Despite several cases being reported outside China, the World Health Organisation has stopped short of declaring the new virus a global health emergency.
Here are the latest developments on the coronavirus outbreak:
Over 430 people have been place under surveillance at their homes in Kerala. "Six of the seven people who were placed under observation at isolation wards in three cities in Kerala have tested negative while tests report of one of the the people is awaited," Dr Shaukat Ali, Adviser, Union health ministry said. A new screening facility will be opened in Thiruvananthapuram airport today for possible exposure to the novel coronavirus.
Three persons are being monitored at the government-run RML hospital in Delhi, news agency Press Trust of India reported quoting officials. Mumbai reported its fourth suspected case after a 36-year-old man was admitted in the isolation ward. A 28-year-old man, who returned from China recently, has been admitted to the isolation ward of a Chandigarh hospital.
The Union health ministry has asked people who have a travel history to China since January 1 to report at the nearest health facility if they experience any symptoms such as fever, cough, respiratory distress etc.
A woman and her son, who recently returned from China, were admitted in hospital in Madhya Pradesh's Ujjain. The boy was studying medicine in Wuhan.
The Centre has decided to take steps for possible evacuation of over 250 to 300 Indians who are reportedly stuck in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak.
Officials said the civil aviation ministry will also ask the airlines to make in-flight announcements and distribute "health cards" to all flights with direct or indirect connectivity to China.
Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan has asked chief secretaries and police chiefs of the five states bordering Nepal -- Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Sikkim to review their preparedness for prevention and management of the coronavirus, news agency PTI reported.
The virus has caused alarm because it is still too early to know how dangerous it is and how easily it spreads between people. Also because it is new, humans have not been able to build immunity to it. Scientists hope to be testing the first possible vaccines in three months' time. China is testing the HIV drug Aluvia as a treatment.
There are severe travel restrictions in Wuhan, with urban transport shut and outgoing flights suspended. Among other measures to contain the virus, China will halt all group tours, affecting tourism both at home and to other countries, from today.
The new virus has caused alarm because of its similarity to SARS, which killed nearly 800 people in mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-03.
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