The Union Health Minister on March 24 took stock of the preparedness of the National Centre for Disease Control at the NCDC centre in the capital.

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Taking to Twitter the Minister said, "Today I visited NCDC and reviewed the preparedness there for COVID-19. Looking at the dedication and loyalty of the personnel, operating the helpline 011-23978046 I am sure that we would be successful in defeating corona. A total of 492 active coronavirus cases have been reported in India. Of the total 492, 36 people have been cured and discharged from the hospital. One COVID-19 patient migrated to other countries while there are 9 casualties so far."

The Health Ministry said that 15,24,266 passengers have been screened at the airports so far. The first outbreak of novel coronavirus was reported in Wuhan city of China on December 31 in 2019. Since then the new virus has affected lakhs of people and killed thousands across the globe.