Number of confirmed coronavirus cases in India rises to 28

NEW DELHI: The number of confirmed cases for coronavirus rose to 28 on Tuesday after 16 Italians tested positive for the virus, the country’s health minister said. 

On Monday, the world’s second-most populous country had only six reported cases of coronavirus, but it is one of places US intelligence agencies are most closely monitoring due to concerns over how it would cope with a widespread outbreak.

An Italian visiting Rajasthan was among those who had tested positive earlier.

And on Wednesday, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said 15 of 21 tourists from Italy — Europe’s worst-affected country — who had been taken to a quarantine facility on the outskirts of New Delhi had tested positive for the virus.

Read also: Coronavirus: India's New Delhi, Telangana report one case each

Their Indian driver was also placed in quarantine, the minister said.

Vardhan said authorities were taking extra precautions against the spread of the virus after the sharp rise in cases.

“We will now screen all international passengers. We will not limit our screenings to 12 countries as we did earlier,” Vardhan told a news conference.

More than 93,000 cases have been reported worldwide, and several thousand have died from the flu-like coronavirus, which emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year and has since spread to more than 80 countries.