The cruise ship Diamond Princess with 3,711 people on board arrived at the Japanese coast early last week and was quarantined after a passenger who de-boarded last month in Hong Kong was found to be the carrier of the COVID-19 on the ship.
A total of 138 Indians, including 132 crew and 6 passengers, were on board the ship. The Indian Embassy in a statement said three Indian crew members are among 218 people tested positive for the virus. All 218 people have been taken to hospitals for further treatment and quarantine.
"All 218 people, including Indian nationals have been taken to hospitals for further treatment and quarantine. As per information available with the Embassy, no other Indian national on-board Diamond Princess Cruise ship has developed any symptoms of infection," the statement said.
Meanwhile, the Coronavirus situation in the country was under control, the Union Health Secretary said on Friday after a meeting to review preparedness for prevention and management of the deadly infection.
So far, India has reported three confirmed cases of nCoV, all from Kerala. Three medical students of the Wuhan University, all natives of Kerala, who returned to India on their own recently and self-reported at a hospital in the state tested positive for the respiratory virus, named COVID-19.
One of them has been discharged after recovery. Besides, around 15,991 people across the country have been kept on community surveillance. Of them, 497 have been identified as symptomatic cases and are being monitored while about 41 have been hospitalised.
During a video-conference meeting on Friday, states were informed that though the number of cases has not increased, the vigil needs to be kept high. They were urged to keep enhancing the awareness among the masses for prevention through personal hygiene, and self-reporting in case of any travel from China and other identified countries, the statement said.
States such as Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Sikkim bordering Nepal were asked to strengthen the disease surveillance. Union Health minister Harsh Vardhan on Thursday said that India has extended support to Maldives in testing samples and to Bhutan in managing the disease.
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Passengers arriving from Thailand and Singapore, besides China and Hong Kong, are being screened for possible exposure to the respiratory virus at 21 identified airports. 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.
Also, surveillance at Points of Entry (PoE) is continuing at 21 airports, 12 major ports, 65 minor ports and at six land crossings. Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) is carrying out community based surveillance of passengers travelling from China, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea and Japan.
(With inputs from PTI)