Coronavirus-infected techie travelled from Bengaluru to Hyderabad, Karnataka govt calls for an emergency meeting

The Karnataka government has called an emergency meeting today, a day after a young software engineer who works in Bengaluru was tested positive for coronavirus in Hyderabad.

The man is among the two new cases of the deadly virus that has infected more than 88,000 people across the globe and killed over 3,000. All those who came in contact with the techie in Bengaluru are being monitored, the Karnataka Health Minister said.

The second coronavirus case is of a person in Delhi, the Union Health Ministry said on Monday. The government said both the patients are stable and that they are being closely monitored. The Telangana health department has issued an advisory to all educational institutes.

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, who held a high-level meeting on Monday, advised people to avoid non-essential travel to Iran, Italy, South Korea and Singapore and said India was in discussions with authorities in Iran and Italy, two countries badly affected by the infection, to evacuate Indians there.

Authorities are screening travellers arriving from Kathmandu, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, Iran, Italy, Thailand, South Korea, Singapore and Japan at 21 designated airports in the country for a possible exposure to the virus, Mr Harsh Vardhan said, adding a total of 5,57,431 passengers have been screened at airports and 12,431 at major and minor seaports so far.

The global death count from the outbreak has crossed 3,000 and cases soared around the world with six deaths in the United States. The deadly virus, first detected in China in December last year, has spread to more than 60 countries and infected more than 88,000 people.