Meghalaya has stepped up surveillance on those who returned from China following the outbreak of the deadly novel coronavirus.

A health department official on Sunday said around 40 people, mostly students, who have returned from China and other countries are being monitored.

Though no symptoms of the disease have been reported so far, the official said the health department is following up with these people daily. “We will monitor them for at least 28 days just in case they develop any symptom. We have also advised them to take health precautionary measures. But we are not keeping them in any hospital,” he said.

The monitoring has been done since the day they arrived in the state, the official said. He added that the people who had returned from China did not travel to the cities which have been affected by the virus.

There are reportedly many students from Meghalaya who are pursuing higher studies, especially medicine, in China.

A group of foreigners who have come to the state and will be staying for at least a week are also under surveillance.

Following the outbreak of the virus in China, the health department has requested any person who travelled in the past one month to China and other countries where the positive coronavirus cases have been reported, to self-identify themselves irrespective of whether having any symptom or not by calling the 24-hour Meghalaya GVK EMRI helpline number 108.

They have further been advised to give a self-declaration of their travel and exposure in the protocol which would either be read out or provided to them when they arrive at the Guwahati and Umroi airports.

Screening centres have also been set up at these two airports. Whoever has returned from the affected places is being screened on a daily basis.

The official said as a precautionary measure, isolation rooms have been identified at Shillong civil hospital to quarantine any individual who happens to test positive for the virus.