Mumbai, February 8: With the global threat of noval coronavirus affecting the health of millions of people, reports arrived that 18,084 people have been screened at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport till Saturday. After the inspection, the authorities claimed that 35 of them had symptoms similar to coronavirus, adding that reports of five passengers are awaited.
Apart from the following update, a Chinese man was admitted to the civic-run Naidu Hospital in Pune after he vomited on a Delhi-Pune flight on Friday morning. Reports of five British nationals being tested positive for the Wuhan virus in France also arrived on Saturday. Till now, 34,800 people have been infected globally, while 720 were killed due to deadly virus. Coronavirus Outbreak in India: MEA S Jaishankar Updates Rajya Sabha on India's Position, Says 'Only 80 Indian Students Stranded in Wuhan'.
Meanwhile, updating the Rajya Sabha, Union Minister for External Affairs Dr S Jaishankar had said on Friday that an estimated 80 Indian students are still living in the coronavirus-hit Chinese city of Wuhan. Adding more, he had said that 70 of them chose to stay behind at the time of the evacuation operation.
The minister said that the Indian Embassy in China is in touch with all the students in Wuhan and the Central government is regularly monitoring their situation. As many as 640 Indians and 7 Maldivians had returned to New Delhi last week on two special Air India flights from Wuhan -- a Chinese city of more than 11 million people, which has been the epicentre of the new strain of coronavirus.
Among other information, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said that India is providing technical help to the neigbours like Maldives, Afghanistan and Bhutan. He also said that Indian Council of Medical Research has offered to test samples for other southeast Asian countries. He said, "We are providing support to other countries in tackling the challenge posed by #Coronavirus. Indian Council of Medical Research has offered to test samples for other southeast Asian countries." Coronavirus Scare: India Bars Entry of Foreigners Who Have Been to China on or After January 15 by Air, Land or Sea.
Earlier on Thursday, the crew and passengers of ships arriving from China or certain other South-East Asian countries have been barred from entering Mumbai port as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus. The Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) has also restricted the entry of crew and passengers who visited China in the past one month and banned all shore leave/excursions for them.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 08, 2020 08:56 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).