Three more Covid-19 cases in India; cancels visa for foreigners from China

INDIA has reported three more cases of coronavirus on Monday (2), including an Italian national, taking the number of people who have tested positive in the country to six.

The cases are reported in the capital New Delhi, Telangana and Rajasthan.

The Italian national tested positive for coronavirus in Rajasthan.

The foreigner had initially tested negative for the virus but a second test came out positive.

"The patient has been moved to an isolation ward," the official said, adding that a third test would be conducted.

The patients had a travel history from Italy and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, respectively, the statement said. Both patients were stable and being closely monitored.

India has so far reported three confirmed cases of the virus, all in the Southern state of Kerala.

The three students had earlier tested positive for the coronavirus on their return from Wuhan, the epicentre of the deadly outbreak that has leftover 3,000 people dead in China, triggering a scare in the state.

After the three students tested positive, the Kerala government had declared the coronavirus as a state calamity but withdrew it after effective quarantine and no fresh cases being reported.

India has said that 25,738 persons are under Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) network. As many as 5,57,257 passengers have been screened, and 15 labs are operational for testing samples.

Meanwhile, the country had also cancelled existing visas, including eVisa already issued, for any foreign national travelling from China.

“People travelling to China henceforth will be quarantined on return,” the Indian Ministry of Health said in a revised travel advisory.

India is the world’s second most heavily populated country after China.

Earlier, the government has advised Indians to refrain from non-essential travel to the worst affected countries, including China, South Korea, Iran and Italy.

U.S. intelligence agencies are monitoring the global spread of coronavirus and the ability of governments to respond, sources told Reuters last week, warning that there were concerns about how India would cope with a widespread outbreak.