NEW DELHI: Till Tuesday, over 9,100 passengers arriving from China in 43 flights had been screened for novel coronavirus but no case of the illness has been detected so far, Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
“We are on alert and our preparedness is sturdy,” said health secretary Preeti Sudan while sharing an update on the measures taken by the government.
She added that passengers travelling from China are being advised to report to the nearest public health facility in case they feel any symptoms.
As part of the measures taken by the ministries of health and family welfare, and civil aviation, a travel advisory has also been issued to those going to Chinese cities.
The health ministry has instructed Airport Health Organizations at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Cochin to screen passengers coming from mainland China at these seven international airports.
Signages have been put up at prominent locations in these airports for encouraging public about self-reporting of illness. Immigration officers manning the counters have been sensitized at these airports
In a statement, ministry said the World Health Organisation is being consulted for updates on technical inputs.
“A series of meetings have been held to review the evolving scenario, preparedness in terms of disease surveillance, laboratory support infection prevention and control, logistics, risk communication and in particular, hospital preparedness and need for coordination and collaboration with other ministries,” it said.