According to Union Health Minister Harsha Vardhan, the number of confirmed cases of the deadly coronavirus stands at 28, as of today (Wednesday, March 4). The Health Minister further announced that all international passengers would be screened at airports across the country henceforth.

The confirmed cases include the three infected individuals from Kerala, who have been discharged after full recovery. They had just returned from Wuhan, China, when they tested positive for the virus. The remaining 25 cases include a 45-year-old man from Delhi, who had just returned from Europe last week, six of his relatives from Agra who got infected after coming in direct contact with him, a 24-year-old techie from Hyderabad who had returned from Dubai, 16 Italian tourists who travelled to Rajasthan and Agra, and one Indian driver who accompanied them. All of them have been quarantined at various hospitals and quarantine facilities around the country and the government is reportedly working to trace the people who may have come in contact with those infected by the virus.

The novel coronavirus, now officially called Covid-19, has claimed the lives of more than 3100 people and infected over 90000 people across the world. The virus was first identified in Wuhan, Hubei Province, in China. As the death toll and overall cases began rising rapidly across the world, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global health emergency.