As many as 46,218 people havebeen screened at the Mumbai international airport till Saturday since January 18 as part of the protocol to tackle the novel coronavirus (covid-19) outbreak, the Maharashtra government has said.The virus outbreak was first detected in Wuhan in China in December and has since affected thousands of people across the globe.A Maharashtra government release stated that 80 of the 82 people admitted in isolation wards in hospitals in the state for suspected exposure to covid-19 have tested negative, while two remain admitted in Mumbai hospitals.Since the outbreak of the virus in China and its spread across the globe through travellers, the Maharashtra government, acting on the guidelines issued by the Centre, has been placing people in isolation wards and screening those arriving at the Mumbai international airport from places affected by the outbreak.Officials said a 14-day follow-up of 207 of 288 people who arrived in the state from covid-19 affected areas had been completed.As per protocol, all arrivals from China's Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, are being quarantined and tested even if they are not showing any symptoms.
