Intensive screening, helpline number: India ready as coronavirus reaches Indo-Nepal border

The Union Health Ministry has decided that it will be screening people entering from the Indo-Nepal border in Uttarakhand after a positive case of the coronavirus was detected in Nepal. Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan has announced that there would be an extensive screening of people at the border to prevent the virus from entering India. Harsh Vardhan also had a talk with Uttarakhand Cheif Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on the same and stated that all possible aid would be provided to the state with immediate effect. Twenty-eight cases of the novel coronavirus have been confirmed outside the Chinese mainland, 5 in Hong Kong, 2 in Macao, 3 in Taiwan, 4 in Thailand, 2 in Japan, 2 in South Korea, 2 in the US, 2 in Vietnam and 3 in Singapore and 1 each in Nepal and France. 

Read: Govt urges people to come forward and report coronavirus symptoms, sets up helpline

The government has also urged people with travel history to China after January 1 this year to voluntarily report themselves to authorities if they experience symptoms related to the deadly coronavirus (nCoV) such as fever, cough and respiratory distress. The Ministry had also issued a helpline number 011-23978046 in this regard.

Read: Coronavirus scare: Health Minister Vardhan calls on PMO to discuss preventive measures

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Health Ministry discusses Coronavirus with PMO 

On Saturday, a high-level meeting was held in Delhi with the officials of the Ministry of Health, scientists of ICMR, NCDC, and other experts to discuss the preventive measures that would be taken by the government if an outbreak would occur in the country. The Health Ministry revealed that nobody in India has been tested positive for the infectious disease so far. Eleven people, seven in Kerala, two in Mumbai and one each in Bengaluru and Hyderabad who had come from China in the recent days were kept under observation in hospitals to check for possible exposure to the deadly novel coronavirus. Amongst the 11, four have been tested negative.

Read: Coronavirus: 10 people who returned from China under watch in hospitals in Kerala, Mumbai and Hyderabad

Read: Coronavirus Outbreak: How dangerous is it? Signs, symptoms and treatments of the disease

(With Agency Inputs)