Corona Cases climb to 30 in India, PM cancels Brussels visit

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday said an Indian medical team will reach Iran today and the authorities are working on the logistics with their Iranian counterparts for the return of the Indians stranded there in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak in the country. "Indian medical team to reach Iran Thursday, first clinic at Qom likely to be set up by evening to start screening for coronavirus," he said.  An estimated  1,200 Indians are stranded in Iran in view of the coronavirus outbreak.

The novel coronavirus is now in over 75 countries with over 94,000 cases confirmed worldwide, says WHO. Mainland China reported 139 new confirmed cases on Wednesday, reversing three straight days of declines, because of a spike in new infections in Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak. South Korea's total number of novel coronavirus cases -- the largest outside China approached 6,000 while the death toll in the United States rose to 11.An outbreak of confirmed and potential coronavirus cases in Delhi, Jaipur, and Agra over the past two days has led to a sudden drop in air and rail bookings to these cities. Flight bookings to the Capital have seen an 11 per cent drop in the last two days, compared to a two-day period a fortnight ago. Similarly, flight bookings to Jaipur fell almost 1 per cent, data sourced from travel app ixigo showed.

The government also announced that all passengers arriving in India would have to undergo thermal screening at international airports and sea-ports. So far, only passengers arriving via flights from 12 countries — Italy, Iran, China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Nepal, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Malaysia — had to undergo compulsory screening. Almost 1,300 international flights arrive at airports across India every day. Health Ministry sources said 500 handheld thermal scanners are currently in use at 21 international airports across the country.

Another 250 scanners are in stock and 300 more are being procured. The government also plans to set up testing facilities in Iran so that Indians there can be tested. An estimated 1,200 Indians, mostly students and pilgrims, are in Iran currently.