78 people who returned from China under house quarantine in TN

The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday said 78 people who had arrived from coronavirus-hit China were under "house quarantine" and being monitored but asserted no positive case of the deadly virus has been detected in the state so far.

State Health and Family Welfare Minister C Vijayabaskar also said there was no need for any panic as preventive measures had been put in place and the government was paying more attention after one person tested positive for the virus in neighbouring Kerala.

As of date, 78 people who had arrived from China were under government monitoring, he said.

"Public Health Department doctors are in touch with all the 78 on a daily basis. Nobody is affected, none of them is in a hospital. They are in their homes. They are in house quarantine," the Minister told reporters here.

"So far there is no positive case of coronavirus in Tamil Nadu," Vijayabaskar said.

He stressed on personal hygiene and adviced people to wash their hands multiple times daily.

Responding to a question on the status of some Tamil Nadu medicos studying in China's Wuhan city, the epicentre of the virus, he said the Chinese Embassy has informed the state government that they were safe.

"We are taking all follow-up action to ensure their wellbeing," he added.

The novel coronavirus epidemic death toll in China has touched 170 with over 7,000 others being infected while it spread to at least 17 countries.