Coronavirus: 3 men kept in isolation ward of RML test negative

New Delhi, Jan 30: All the three men kept under observation at an isolation ward of the RML Hospital here for possible exposure to novel coronavirus have tested negative, a Health ministry official said on Thursday.

"Their samples were sent for testing to NIV Pune and they have tested negative," the official said.

So far 38 samples from all over India have been tested at the Pune laboratory and all have tested negative, the official said, adding there is no confirmed case of novel coronavirus in the country.

The three men had self reported at the Centre-run hospital, designated to deal with such cases, on Monday with complaints of respiratory trouble and fever. With China struggling to contain the fast-spreading novel coronavirus, the Union Health Ministry had on Wednesday urged Indians to refrain from travelling to China.

The advisory further urged all travellers to China to monitor their health closely. A 24x7 helpline number (011-23978046) to redress any queries related the respiratory infection has been set up. India is planning to evacuate its nationals, mostly students, stuck in Wuhan, the epicentre of the viral outbreak.

As part of the preparedness, India has also increased the number of airports for thermal screening of passengers to 21 from seven. The new airports include those at Gaya, Guwahati, Vizag, Varanasi, Goa, Bhubaneshwar and Lucknow.

The Health ministry has also made four more laboratories functional other than the NIV-Pune for testing samples.

The four lab facilities for testing samples have been made functional at Alleppey, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai. Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba on Tuesday reviewed the preparedness to deal with the deadly virus after which the government said India has made a formal request to China for facilitating evacuation of Indians from Wuhan.

India has been making all efforts to detect and check the spread of the virus even as more than a dozen countries around the world have confirmed cases of the deadly virus.

Several states including Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan have kept some people, with travel history to China, under observation after they showed novel coronavirus-like symptoms.