Indian Health Minister Harsh Vardhan confirmed two new cases of Coronavirus in the country on Monday, pushing the total number to five.
One person from Delhi has a history of travelling to Italy while the other has a travel history to Dubai, the Ministry of Health and Family welfare said. Previously, three cases were confirmed by the State of Kerala on 6 February.
According to Health Minister Vardhan those three people have now recovered.
Vardhan said: “The cases came to the fore when further tests were done on the basis of self-declaration by the affected persons... They have now been shifted to government hospitals. We are meticulously doing everything possible to track the contact cases.”
Speaking about preparations, as the number of coronavirus cases are increasing, the federal minister said that universal screening of passengers arriving from China, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Vietnam, Italy, Iran, Indonesia, and Malaysia are being conducted at airports and seaports. Screening is also being conducted at 21 Indian airports, 12 major seaports and 65 minor seaports.
“A total of 557,431 [over half a million] passengers have been screened at airports, and 12,431 people have been screened at major and minor seaports,” the minister added.
Along with this, the Indian government is also conducting screening for the virus at the Indian states that share a border with Nepal. In the states like Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, and West Bengal, a total of 10,24,922 (over 1 million) people have been screened. The Health Ministry also said that 3,217 samples have tested negative, while 23 people are currently undergoing tests and awaiting results.