Govt sets up teams to inspect villages bordering Nepal for COVID-19

The Union health ministry has constituted central teams of experts for examination of villages bordering Nepal for novel coronavirus infection.

Villages bordering Nepal in the states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Sikkim and West Bengal will be inspected by central teams for community-level Information Education Communication (IEC) activities for Coronavirus in regard to the novel coronavirus, an order by the health ministry dated February 15 said.

Five separate teams of doctors from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Safdarjung Hospital, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital among others have been set up.

"The teams will visit the bordering districts of the states allotted to them. The regional director (Ministry of Health) will coordinate with the respective state health departments for the visit of the team to the bordering villages," the order read.

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

One of the three medical students, who had tested positive for novel coronavirus infection and were treated at a hospital in Kerala, has been discharged after recovery, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan had said on Thursday.

About the other two, he said subsequent tests indicated significant reduction in "viral load".

The health ministry has asked people to refrain from travelling to China in view of the coronavirus outbreak and said travellers on return could be quarantined.