Two more suspected cases of Novel Coronavirus have been admitted to Delhi's Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital for treatment, increasing the total number of cases of people suspected of being infected by the virus in the country to eight. Their samples have been sent for testing.
"Two males, ageing 23-year and 46-year olds have been admitted to the hospital today. One was staying in China for the last 5 years and returned from there on January 24 from Wuhan while the other visited China for 2 months and returned on January 18," IANS quoted RML's PRO Smriti Tiwari as saying on Saturday.
Earlier, six suspected cases of coronavirus were admitted to the RML hospital. Out of the six people, four were male, one female, and another one is an old admission.
The lone female admitted to the hospital had been living in China since 2015 and returned on January 29. The others resided in China for a time period ranging from 2 months to 7 years.
So far in India, there is only one confirmed case, a student from Kerala, who returned home and was confirmed to have carried the coronavirus.
Meanwhile, India on Friday sent a special aircraft to China to evacuate Indians stranded in Wuhan city. The flight carrying 324 Indians took off around midnight (IST) and landed at Delhi on Saturday morning.
A team of five doctors from Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital, one paramedical staff from Air India with prescribed medicine from doctors, masks, overcoats, and packed food were boarded in the aircraft. A team of engineers and security personnel are also there in the 423-seater jumbo B747 aircraft. The entire evacuation mission is being led by Captain Amitabh Singh, Director of Operation, Air India.
Two facilities have been created near Delhi where evacuees can be monitored for a duration of two weeks by a qualified team of doctors and staff members, to watch for any signs of infection.
While the Indian Army has built a facility near Haryana's Manesar for approximately 300 people, another centre has been created by the ITBP at Chawla camp in Delhi.
On Friday, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases crossed 10,000 in China, authorities said, adding that 259 have been killed so far.
As the deadly virus spread throughout China in 31 provincial-level regions, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared Coronavirus a global health emergency.