Novel coronavirus: Six Chinese nationals put under surveillance in Shimla

 Six Chinese nationals, who arrived in Himachal Pradesh in the past few days, were put under surveillance here on Wednesday in view of the novel coronavirus outbreak in China, an official said. The Chinese nationals, who arrived here in two batches on February 13 and February 16 via Kolkata, were "asymptomatic".

The state health department got to know about their presence here on Tuesday night. They have been put under surveillance and advised to report to the health officials in case of symptoms of cough and fever, the official said.

Officials of the integrated disease surveillance programme (IDSP) on Wednesday visited the home stay in Lakkar Bazar where they have been staying and found that they were "asymptomatic". None of the six Chinese nationals visited Wuhan, the epicentre of the novel coronavirus outbreak, after January 15, the official said.

Five of them came to India from China on January 28 and 29, whereas the sixth Chinese national came from Malaysia on January 29. The five Chinese were screened in China before leaving for India and they were again screened at the Kolkata airport. Visas of the five-member group are valid till February 27, whereas the sixth person's visa is valid till June.

All of them are scheduled to leave Shimla on Thursday, he added. The Chinese had earlier visited several Indian cities, including Kolkata, Gaya, Delhi, Rishikesh, Chandigarh, Varanasi, Agra, Jaipur and Amritsar.