Coronavirus: Passengers from more countries to be screened at Indian airports

Fliers from four more countries would now be screened at Indian airports for Coronavirus.  Nepal, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia are the countries from where passengers would now be screened. This move by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has increased the count of countries to 10.

According to Livemint, the move came after Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba on Saturday chaired a high level meeting to review the status, actions taken and preparedness of states/UTs regarding management of novel coronavirus (COVID19).

Secretaries of Health and Family Welfare, Civil Aviation, Defence, Information & Broadcasting, DG AFMS were part of the meeting along with representatives from External Affairs, Home Affairs, Bureau of Immigration, Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and Army.

On Sunday, the DGCA put out an official communication which mentioned that passengers from these countries would now be screened at Indian airports for Coronavirus.

According to data provided by India Today, 21,805 passengers have been brought under community surveillance. In addition, 3,97,152 flight passengers and 9,695 travelers at sea ports have been screened.  

The COVID19 viral outbreak began in Wuhan, a prominent city in China, and quickly spread across the country. The World Health Organization (Who has named the illness COVID-19, referring to its origin late last year and the Coronavirus that causes it.

John Hopkins University's live tracker of the disease says that over 2,467 have already died due to the Coronavirus disease.  At least 78,891 people remain affected with the virus mostly in China.

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