After three confirmed cases of coronavirus were reported in Kerala, the Karnataka Health and Family Welfare Department has placed four border districts - Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu, Mysuru and Chamarajanagara - on high alert.
"As there are 3 positive cases in Kerala the border districts of Mangaluru, Kodagu, Chamrajnagar and Mysore are on n-CoV surveillance and any suspected are advised to report immediately to State Surveillance Unit (SSU) Karnataka," read a bulletin by the state's Department of Health and Family Welfare Services.
A third positive case of coronavirus was confirmed in Kanjangad in Kasaragod district of Kerala. Kasaragod is next to Mangaluru in Karnataka.
In Karnataka, 63 travellers from corona affected countries have been identified and 58 are under home isolation. 4 travellers have left the country, while 1 is admitted in hospital and kept in isolation. 56 samples were sent for testing out of which results of 39 samples came negative.
"Those who have arrived from the corona affected countries should remain under strict home isolation for 28 days from the date of arrival in India, irrespective of whether they are symptomatic or asymptomatic," adds the bulletin.
Since January 20, as many as 7965 travellers at the Bengaluru International Airport have been screened by a thermal scanner to detect fever. The Karnataka government has also identified four private hospitals where suspected persons with travel history are quarantined. Their blood and sputum samples will be sent to either a lab at Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI) or a branch of the National Institute of Virology located near the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases (RGICD) for testing.
Across the world, the coronavirus has been reported in 24 countries including India. Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province in central China is the epicentre of the outbreak. At least 425 people were confirmed dead due to the virus which has also claimed the life of a man from Wuhan who was in the Philippines.