KOLKATA: Mandatory thermal screening on arrival at Kolkata airport has been extended to flyers with recent travel history to Italy, Iran and South Korea — the latest novel coronavirus transmission hotspots — along with Germany, Japan and Malaysia. This increases the number of countries on the Covid-19 watchlist at the airport to 12.Immigration officers have been instructed to check the passports of all arriving international flyers and send passengers with Schengen visa or travel history to any of the 12 countries on the nCoV watch list back for thermal screening before being allowed to formally enter the country. Schengen visa allows visitors entry to 26 European states, including Italy. In addition, all passengers arriving by Singapore Airlines from Singapore, IndiGo Airlines flights from Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi in Vietnam and Malindo Air and AirAsia flights from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia will undergo thermal screening checks before they proceed to immigration.“We have been screening passengers in flights arriving from China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The travel documents of other international passengers were being checked by immigration authorities. Now, the list has been expanded to include Italy, Iran, South Korea, Germany, Japan and Malaysia,” a senior airport official said. While flyers with symptoms of flu will be sent directly to the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Beliaghata for quarantine, those having such travel history but no symptoms will be advised home quarantine for two weeks.IndiGo — that has cancelled its flights to China’s Guangzhou from Kolkata indefinitely — has started rationalizing its daily direct flights to Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. From Monday, they reduced the frequency to these cities in Vietnam. “Instead of daily flights, we shall operate flights to these cities on alternate days. In the next 10 days, there will be six flights to Hanoi and four to Hochi Minh City,” an official said. Singapore Airlines, though, has no plans to immediately cut down flights.Flights to China were the first to be grounded after India cancelled visas to Chinese citizens and evacuated Indians stranded in the country. But the spread of nCoV to more than 50 countries has increased uncertainty.The health ministry has also issued an advisory to flyers, urging Indians to refrain from non-essential travel to Iran, Italy, South Korea and Singapore. Currently 21 airports are constantly screening passengers arriving from Kathmandu, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, South Korea, Singapore and Japan for possible exposure to the novel coronavirus.