BREAKING NEWS: Coronavirus scare: Govt issues travel advisory, urges Indians to avoid 'non-essential travel' to Singapore

New Delhi: In the aftermath of the deadly coronavirus outbreak, the government on Saturday (February 22, 2020) issued a fresh travel advisory and asked citizens to avoid ''all non-essential travel'' to the south-east Asian business hub Singapore.

The decision in this regard was taken following a high-level review meeting chaired Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba on Coronavirus epidemic in China, which has so far claimed over 2,000 lives in the neighbouring country alone. 

During the meeting, four new countries were added to the list for the screening of passengers at airports. 

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

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.

''In furtherance to the travel advisory issued earlier, citizens have been advised to avoid all non-essential travel to Singapore,'' a statement from the government said.

As on date, 21,805 passengers have been brought under community surveillance. In addition, 3.97 lakh flight passengers and 9,695 travellers at sea ports have been screened, it added.

''The Cabinet Secretary chaired a high-level meeting to review the status, actions taken and preparedness of states/UTs regarding management of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), here today.''

''Secretaries of Health and Family Welfare, Civil Aviation, Defence, Information & Broadcasting, DG AFMS and representatives from External Affairs, Home Affairs, Bureau of Immigration, ITBP and Army were also present,'' it said.

Coronavirus first originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan and has since then killed more than 2,200 people in that country alone, while cases have been reported in several countries across the world, including India.