NEW DELHI — The Indian government on Saturday (Feb 22) advised its citizens to avoid all non-essential travel to Singapore in light of the Covid-19 outbreak, reported The Times of India. 

Starting Monday, travellers entering India from Kathmandu, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia will be screened at the airports. 

This follows India’s announcement on Feb 13 that passengers on all direct incoming flights from Singapore, Japan, South Korea and Thailand would undergo screening at 21 designated airports across the country. 

The same measures for travellers entering from Hong Kong and China have already been in place since January. 

The decision to issue the advisory was made during a Saturday meeting to take stock of the status, actions taken and preparedness of states and union territories in India, its health ministry said.

"In furtherance to the travel advisory issued earlier, citizens are advised to avoid all non-essential travel to Singapore," the ministry is reported to have said in a statement.

India has had three confirmed cases of the coronavirus — all were students returning from Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak. As of Friday, all three students have recovered, reported the Hindustan Times. 

As of Saturday, 21,805 passengers have been brought under community surveillance. In addition, 397,152 flight passengers and 9,695 travellers at sea ports have been screened, the Times of India reported. AGENCIES