India again reported two other cases of coronavirus on Monday, taking the number of people who have tested positive in the country. One of the new cases was detected in the capital, New Delhi, while the other was in the southern state of Telangana, the government said in a statement.
The patients had a travel history from Italy and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, respectively, the government said. Both patients were stable and being closely monitored.
“The government is monitoring the situation at the highest level,” Health Minister Harsh Vardhan told a briefing in New Delhi.
Authorities were screening travelers arriving from 12 countries, Vardhan said that more than 1 million people had been screened on the border with Nepal.
The coronavirus, which was identified in China late last year, has quickly spread to dozens of countries, killing nearly 3,000 people and disrupting global business supply chains.
India is the world’s second most heavily populated country after China. The government has advised Indians to refrain from non-essential travel to the worst affected countries, including China, South Korea, Iran, and Italy.
The government in Kerala state said last week “The three other patients who had tested positive for coronavirus in India have all been discharged from hospital, and were in quarantine in their homes”.
All three had returned from Wuhan, the Chinese city at the epicenter of the outbreak.
U.S. intelligence agencies are monitoring the global spread of coronavirus and the ability of governments to respond, sources told Reuters last week, warning that there were concerns about how India would cope with a widespread outbreak.
