Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Wednesday held a high-level meeting on Coronavirus as the confirmed cases in India rose to 28.

The review meeting was attended by senior officials of the Health Ministry, MCD Commissioners, Director AIIMS and MS of Safdarjung Hospital, among others.

As of current reports, 16 of the 23 tourists from Iran, who landed in Delhi and had travelled to Rajasthan last month, have been confirmed with the deadly virus. One Indian national, who was travelling with the group, has also tested positive for Coronavirus.

Fifteen persons including the Indian have been quarantined at the ITBP Camp in Chhawla in New Delhi. A 69-year-old Italian man, who was in the same group of tourists, and his wife are being treated in a hospital in Jaipur.

Six more people have tested positive for Coronavirus in Agra. With this, the total number of people infected with COVID-19 has reached 28 in the country.

In the wake of recent developments, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said the Government has decided that all flights and passengers will be part of universal screening and not just the 12 countries that were listed earlier.

“We had screened about 5,89,000 at our airports, over 15,000 at minor and major seaports and over 10 lakhs at the border of Nepal, till yesterday,” the minister told reporters.

As of now, only symptomatic treatment is available for coronavirus.

Addressing the media after the meeting, Harsh Vardhan said hospitals in Delhi had been told to set up quality-isolation wards for potential cases, adding that 34 labs in total had been set up for testing cases, and if needed the number could reach 50.

The minister said that children need not be stopped from going to schools for now. He, however, has asked people to avoid big gatherings.

On reports of an increase in the price of N95 masks, Harsh Vardhan said: “If people are taking advantage and misusing this time, then they should be labelled as “black sheep” and a mechanism to punish them should be implemented.”

Amid a rise in the death toll in Iran, Harsh Vardhan said that if Tehran allows, New Delhi has an intention to establish a test lab there as well so that Indian nationals can be brought back after thorough screening.

According to Health Ministry officials, at least 25 people suspected of Coronavirus are admitted at Safdarjung hospital and four are kept in isolation at Dr Ram Manohar Lohia hospital.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry has also briefed the Cabinet and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the preparedness to deal with the Coronavirus crisis.

The deadly COVID-19 disease has so far claimed more than 3100 lives and infected over 90,000 people globally.