New Delhi [India], Mar 4 : Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Wednesday said that he held talks with the Delhi government officials and ministers over the coronavirus situation and appealed them to increase isolation wards in advance so as to stay well-prepared in the case of an outbreak.
"We conducted meeting with the Delhi government officers, corporation officials along with ministers of the Delhi government as one case of coronavirus has been reported from Delhi. We held detailed conversation about the developments regarding coronavirus and the steps taken by the government. We have asked the Delhi government to create isolation wards with all facilities, in order to stay prepared," Harsh Vardhan said at a press conference here.
"Yesterday two cases were reported, one each in Delhi and Telangana. The contact tracing showed that the person from Delhi had come in contact with 66 people. It was found out that he infected six people from his family in Agra," he said.
The Union Health Minister said that the Centre was willing to establish a test lab in Iran, if the government there supported its efforts, to conduct thorough screenings of Indian citizens to enable their return.
Harsh Vardhan, in the press conference, also said that till now there are 28 cases of coronavirus in the country and added that universal screening of all international flights will begin to control the spread of the deadly virus.
"Currently we are conducting the universal screening of flights coming from 12 countries. But now we will be conducting universal screening of all passengers coming from all international flights. Everybody will be a part of the universal screening," Harsh Vardhan said at a press conference here.
"Till yesterday, we have screened about 5.89 lakh passengers at airports, over 15 thousand at major and minor seaports and over 10 lakh at the borders with Nepal. About 27 thousand were under community surveillance until yesterday," he added.
The Union Health Minister said that 28 positive cases of the disease have been identified till date in the country.
"Out of these 28, three are from Kerala, one each from Delhi and Telangana, six from Agra, an Italian group which had come to India for travelling and their Indian driver which makes it seventeen people," Harsh Vardhan said.
"They have been sent to the Indo-Tibetan Border Police's (ITBP) quarantine facility in Chhawla," he said regarding the foreign nationals.
( With inputs from ANI )