Published 19:53 IST, February 6th 2020
BIG: All 645 evacuated from Wuhan by India test negative for Coronavirus, says Centre
Health Ministry said that all 645 people evacuated from China's Wuhan, who were kept in isolation at Army Base and ITBP camps, tested negative for coronavirus
The Union Health Ministry on Thursday said that all 645 people evacuated from China's Wuhan city, who were kept in isolation at Army Base and ITBP camps, tested negative for coronavirus. It added that as of February 6, 1,38,750 passengers from 1,265 flights had been screened for the novel coronavirus but no new case was detected.
The three cases are clinically stable
India has so far reported three confirmed cases of Coronavirus from Kerala. Three medical students studying at the Wuhan University who returned to India recently tested positive for the virus. Besides, 510 samples were tested by ICMR network laboratories, of which all had tested negative except for the three already reported positive cases. The three cases are clinically stable, the ministry said in a statement.
It said that all 645 people evacuated from Wuhan, who were kept in isolation at Army Base and ITBP camps, tested negative for Coronavirus. Community surveillance and contact tracing is going on by IDSP for 6,558 persons across 32 states/UTs. The Fourth Joint Monitoring Group (JMG) meeting was held on Thursday under the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) to discuss various technical issues, including review period of follow up required for asymptomatic travellers from China.
The Health Ministry in coordination with central ministries and all states/UTs is taking adequate measures for the management of nCoV in India.
India suspends all visas issued to Chinese nationals
India has suspended all visas, regular or electronic, issued to Chinese nationals before February 5, no matter where in the world they are travelling from, an immigration official said. But the revocation doesn't apply to Chinese passport holders in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau, the official said, according to ANI.
The World Health Organisation has declared the outbreak a global emergency. India will not admit foreign nationals who have been to China on or after January 15. They can't enter India from any "air, land or seaport, including the Indo-Nepal, Indo-Bhutan, Indo-Bangladesh or Indo-Myanmar land borders," the immigration official said.
Death toll reached 563 in China
The coronavirus death toll in mainland China jumped by 73 to 563 on Thursday, its third consecutive record daily rise. Experts have intensified efforts to find a vaccine for a disease that has shut down Chinese cities and factories and could damage the world's second-largest economy. Hubei province, the epicentre of the epidemic, reported 70 new deaths on Wednesday and 2,987 new confirmed cases - more than 80 per cent of the total reported by Chinese authorities.
(With agency inputs)
Updated 19:53 IST, February 6th 2020