Chandigarh, Feb 16 (IANS): Now, visitors from Japan and South Korea will also be screened for Coronavirus, Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu said on Sunday.

The guidelines in this regard have been issued to all the districts, especially Amritsar and Mohali which have international airports.

The minister said the state Department of Health has also identified 23 passengers who came from Singapore.

One passenger, belonging to Jammu, had fever and was immediately kept in isolation ward at the Government Medical College in Amritsar. The test report of the passenger has come negative and he was discharged.

Sidhu said till date, the Health Department has screened approximately 22,000 passengers at Amritsar and Mohali airports, while around 7,500 have been screened at Wagah Border and Dera Baba Nanak points.

He said till date, the state has identified 1,603 passengers with travel history or transit stay in these countries. Of the 39 samples were tested, 38 have reported negative.

He said one child, with transit stay in Thailand, was admitted to isolation ward of the District Hospital in Barnala. The child is healthy and fine now, but the test reports of the sample sent to NCDC New Delhi is awaited.

A total of 947 passengers were under the 28 days observation period and 567 persons are in home isolation and are being tracked daily by staff of the Health Department, he added.