More than 14,860 people have been screened for coronavirus in various screening counters since early February, a health department official said on Friday.

State health secretary H. Lalengmawia told The Telegraph that 14,648 people, who have came from outside, have been screened in various screening counters since February 2.

He said at least seven screening counters have been set up in various parts of the state along the inter-state and international borders, including Lengpui airport.

According to Lalengmawia, at least 41 people, who have a travel history to foreign countries, have been put under house quarantine as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus. He said the 41 people have recently returned from China, Singapore, Macau, Dubai, the US, Seychelles and Hong Kong. “They are being put under home quarantine as a precautionary measure though they did not show any symptom suggestive of coronavirus,” he said.

The official said the government has sent five blood samples to Guwahati Medical College and Hospital for tests and three of them tested negative, while two samples were rejected.

According to him, the government has set up a 32-bed isolation ward at Zoram Medical College (ZMC) and a five-bed 5-bedded ward in each district hospital to treat any suspected patients.

Apart from this, the government also set up laboratory sample collection centres at Aizawl civil hospital, ZMC and Lengpui community health centre, he said.

Health minister R. Lal-thangliana said the state government is making massive efforts to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the state.

Sources said a high-level meeting was convened by the health minister on Thursday to discuss the preventive measures taken by the state government.

The meeting decided to expedite surveillance at Zokhawthar along the Mizoram-Myanmar border and also to set up three-bed isolation wards in all primary health centres, five-bed wards in all community health centres and sub-divisional hospitals to treat any suspected patients, who cannot afford better health facility due to financial constraint and for those who reside in remote areas, the sources said.

The meeting also agreed to upgrade AYUSH building at Lengpui to treat any suspected passengers, the sources added.