Coronavirus: Government asks citizens to avoid non-essential travel to Singapore

New Delhi, Feb 22: In furtherance to the travel advisory issued earlier in the wake of the deadly coronavirus outbreak, the government on Saturday advised citizens to avoid all non-essential travel to Singapore.

It also said screening at airports is now being planned for flight passengers coming to India from Kathmandu, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia from Monday.

Currently, passengers from China, Hong Kong, Thailand, South Korea, Singapore and Japan are screened at 21 designated airports in the country for a possible exposure to the novel coronavirus.

The decision was taken during a review meeting chaired by the Cabinet Secretary to take a stock of the status, actions taken and preparedness of states and UTs regarding management of novel coronavirus (COVID19) here on Saturday, the Union Heath Ministry said.

"In furtherance to the travel advisory issued earlier, citizens are advised to avoid all non-essential travel to Singapore," the ministry said in a statement.

As on date, 21,805 passengers have been brought under community surveillance. In addition, 3,97,152 flight passengers and 9,695 travellers at sea ports have been screened, it said.

After a detailed review, in addition to the screening as per earlier advisories, universal screening at airports is now being planned for flights from Kathmandu, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia from Monday, the ministry said.

Secretaries of ministries of Health, Civil Aviation, Defence, Information and Broadcasting, DG AFMS and representatives from External Affairs Ministry, Home Affairs Ministry, Bureau of Immigration, ITBP and Army were also present at the meeting, the statement said.