Three students from Kerala, who had confirmed to have the virus, have been discharged from hospital after they recovered and tested negative.

Two more cases of COVID-19 - one in Delhi and another in Telangana - have been reported in the country, taking the total number of positive cases to five, the Union Health Ministry said on Monday.

According to Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, the person from Delhi who has tested positive had travelled to Italy, while the other one has a recent travel history to Dubai.

“Both the patients had self-reported after they developed symptoms. They tested positive. They are stable and being closely monitored. We are now contacting their family and others who have come in contact with them to ensure that the virus is contained and any case is picked up at the earliest,” he said.

The positive person in Delhi had self-reported at the RML hospital here after returning to India, while the one in Telangana had initially gone to a private hospital and then was referred to a government hospital.

There are now reports of an Italian tourist in India showing symptoms of the infection. The Health Ministry has maintained that he has not been confirmed for the virus and that a sample has been sent to NIV, Pune.

Minister of Health (State) Ashwini Choubey said 15 laboratories were working to fight the disease and 19 more would be set up. The three students from Kerala, who had confirmed to have the virus, had been discharged from hospital after they recovered and tested negative.

India’s first COVID-19 case was recorded in Kerala's Thrissur. A woman medical student from Wuhan who was admitted to the Government Medical College hospital, Thrissur, was discharged on February 20.

As many as 25,738 people are under community surveillance across the country.

Travel advisory

Dr. Vardhan said he had advised people to avoid non-essential travel to Iran, Italy, South Korea and Singapore. Thirty- seven people across the country were currently hospitalised after showing symptoms of COVID-19. The Union government was in discussion with Iran and Italian authorities to evacuate Indians there.

“So far 3,217 samples have been tested, out of which five have tested positive for COVID-19, while reports of 23 are awaited. Italy is reeling under a large number cases of COVID-19. China has so far witnessed 2,912 deaths due to coronavirus,’’ said the Minister.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation noted that it has been decided to expand the universal screening of passengers arriving on flights from Italy and Iran besides the flights from China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Nepal, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia.