Chennai, Jan 29 (IANS): The Tamil Nadu government will monitor the health condition of those returning from China for 28 days to see whether they are affected by Coronavirus, said a senior official in Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine.

He said passengers coming from Chine and landing in Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore and Trichy airports are monitored and their details are being collected.

"Till Wednesday morning 78 passengers -- 68 Indians and 10 Chinese -- have landed in four airports in Tamil Nadu. A self-declaration form on their health condition has been obtained and their body temperature was also gathered," said P. Sampath, Joint Director-Epidemic, Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine.

He said the district-level health officials would daily visit the homes or the place of stay of those who have come from China to monitor their health condition.

"This will be done for 28 days. Isolation wards have been set up in government hospitals in Chennai, Coimbatore, Trichy and Madurai," he added.

He said passengers who show symptoms of being affected by coronavirus will be admitted in the any one of the four hospitals and samples of blood, nasal and throat secretions will be sent to National Institute of Virology, Pune.

According to Sampath, none of the 78 persons who landed in the four airports in Tamil Nadu have shown symptoms of being affected by coronavirus.