Coronavirus: Passengers from Italy, Iran also to be screened

Passengers arriving in India from two more coronavirus-affected countries -- Italy and Iran -- will undergo medical screening at the airports as part of the efforts to prevent the spread of the deadly virus, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) announced on Monday.

Italy has reported the most coronavirus cases outside of Asia, while Iran has reported the most deaths from the deadly virus outside of China.

Earlier, the DGCA had ordered the screening of passengers arriving from China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Nepal, Vietnam, and Malaysia.

"In order to prevent spread of #Coronavirus in India, it has been decided to expand the universal screening of all passengers arriving in flights from Italy and Iran besides the flights from China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia," the DGCA said in a statement.

Coronavirus first originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December, last year, and has since then spread to nearly 50 countries across the world, including India, and the 12 aforementioned countries.