Strict vigil in border areas of Uttarakhand and Bengal after confirmed nCoV2019 in Nepal: Centre

The Union Health Ministry on Monday said that in response to the confirmed case of Conronovirus in Nepal, the Centre has stepped up vigil in districts bordering Nepal.

Health teams deployed at border areas with Nepal at Panitanki in West Bengal, Jhulaghat and Jauljibi district Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand.

According to the health ministry as on January 26, 707 passengers from 137 flights have been screened for Novel Coronavirus symptoms, and no passenger has been detected in India so far.

Meanwhile, the government has been doing the thermal screening of the passengers arriving from China via Hong Kong at the International airports of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Cochin. So far, no confirmed case has been reported in India.

As many as 2,794 confirmed cases of Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) have been reported globally, said Johns Hopkins Centre which has framed an online dashboard for tracking the worldwide spread of the coronavirus outbreak that began in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

Till today, about 2737 cases were reported from China, including Hong Kong SAR (8 confirmed cases), Thailand 8, Hong Kong 8, Macau 6, America 5, Japan 4, Australia 4, Malaysia 4, Singapore 4, Taiwan 4, Korea 3, France 3, Vietnam 2, Canada 1 and Nepal 1, stated the Johns Hopkins Centre.

According to WHO, Coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses that cause respiratory illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). A novel coronavirus (nCoV) is a new strain that has not been previously identified in humans.

On December 30, 2019, a cluster of cases of pneumonia of unknown origin was circulating in Wuhan city reported to China Health Commission.