Amidst Coronavirus outbreak Air India has kept a Boeing 747 jet on standby for the evacuation of Indians in China's Wuhan city where the coronavirus outbreak has already claimed the lives of 81 people and the administration has shut down the entire city to prevent the spreading of the virus.
As per an Air India official, the national carrier is awaiting a government decision on whether to move the jet to evacuate Indians in China already.
Meanwhile, airports across the country have already screened over 29,700 passengers from 137 flights till Sunday to detect any coronavirus cases. Seven identified airports in the country conducted the screenings but no positive cases have been detected so far, the Union Health Ministry has said.
The health ministry tweeted, "Total of 29,707 passengers from 137 flights screened. 4,359 passengers of 22 flights screened today. No case of coronavirus found till date."
Over 100 people have been kept under observation in Kerala and Maharashtra following screening for possible exposure to the novel coronavirus (nCov) as the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on Saturday reviewed India's preparedness to deal with any situation amid mounting global concern over rising cases in China.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Saturday said samples of seven passengers have been sent to the ICMR-NIV laboratory in Pune.
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One person each from Thrissur, Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta and Malappuram and three from Ernakulam are in isolation wards of various health centres in Kerala.
In China, the death toll from coronavirus outbreak went up to 81 on Monday, as the government extended the Lunar New Year holiday and more big businesses shut down or told staff to work from home in an effort to curb the spread.
The total number of confirmed cases in China rose about 30% to 2,744, with about half in Hubei province, whose capital is Wuhan.