The Union Health Ministry has written to the Ministry of External Affairs to provide details of travellers from Wuhan who had sought visas to travel to India since December 31, 2019. They have also been requested to provide daily details.
The Ministry had on Monday written to the Ministry of Civil Aviation to facilitate thermal screening at the international airports of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kochi.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) will convene an emergency meeting of the committee on the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) under the International Health Regulations on January 22.
The total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus reported to date (January 21) is 222 (China: 218, Thailand: 2, Japan: 1, Republic of Korea: 1), including four deaths (all in Wuhan). The number of people reported with 2019-nCOV in Wuhan, China, includes 15 health care workers.
Announcing this in a tweet, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom said: “The Emergency Committee on the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) will ascertain whether the outbreak constitutes a public health emergency of international concern, and what recommendations should be made to manage it.”
“In India, as of today, there are no cases detected on community surveillance or contact tracing but a travel advisory has been issued and put up on the Ministry’s website and also the Twitter handle for wider circulation,” noted a senior health official.
