Coronavirus Scare: Indians Asked to Avoid Non-essential Travel to Singapore

The Indian government on Saturday (February 22) asked its citizens to avoid all-essential travel to Singapore and added that screening at airports is now being planned for flight passengers arriving in the country from Kathmandu, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia from Monday. Passengers from China, Hong Kong, Thailand, South Korea, Singapore and Japan are currently screened at 21 designated airports in the country for a possible exposure to the novel coronavirus or Covid 19.

The Union Heath Ministry said 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 Covid 19 here on Saturday.

"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.

The Ministry said that 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.

The ministry added that 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.

A statement said that 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.