Avoid travel to Singapore: Govt

NEWDELHI:AMID the Coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak in China, India on Saturday issued a fresh travel advisory asking people to avoid non-essential travel to Singapore. This is in addition to the advisory issued last month barring people from travelling to China and Hong Kong.

Passengers returning from flights from six more countries, Nepal, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Japan, and South Korea, will be screened at the airports for symptoms of Covid-19.

As per the earlier directive of January 17, passengers coming from China, Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore were being screened using thermal scanners. “Passengers from 10 countries will now be screened and the directive will come into effect from Monday, February 24,” said Union health ministry in a statement.

The decision was taken after a high-level meeting chaired by cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba on Saturday. Secretaries of Union health and family welfare, civil aviation, defence, information and broadcasting, director general armed forces medical services, and officials from the ministries of external affairs, home affairs, and bureau of immigration, Indo-tibetan Border Police, and Army were also present.

Since the passenger screening began at 21 airports and major sea ports across the country, 3,97,152 flight passengers and 9,695 travellers at sea ports have been screened for symptoms.

Under the integrated disease surveillance programme, 21,805 passengers with a travel history from China are being observed. Close to 3,000 samples have been tested for Covid-19 so far by various designated laboratories across the country. “Apart from the initial three, no new sample has tested positive for the virus,” said a scientist at the Indian Council of Medical Research.