The Government of India is bringing Indians from China in the wake of coronavirus spread. How will the ministry ensure that the infection is not spread in the country?
We will be putting them in an isolated facility. We have identified some places in and near Delhi. These are facilities of defence and labour ministry.
How many people are we looking at to put in isolated facilities?
That Ministry of External Affairs will tell. They are still in talks with authorities in China. We’ll know the exact number of people later. We want to get our students out from Wuhan, that is our priority. There are about 200 of such students.
We are also concerned about the staff going on the plane to get Indians back from China. They will need to wear protective gear. In any case, China is not sending those who have infection; they are not allowed to come back. Only asymptomatic people will be sent from China.
How efficient is screening at the airports?
We had 28 thermal scanners for screening when we began. We have got 100 more and they are being dispatched to different airports. All are purchased from India. Incoming passengers from China are being screened at 21 airports now.
China is already facing lack of testing kits. Do we have enough kits in India?
There are enough kits in India. When we initiated this, we had about 5,000 of them. So far we have conducted 28 tests and all have been found negative for coronavirus. Eleven samples are under process. Some were found to have rhinovirus, which leads to common cold and cough. We have issued guidelines to the states also.
A lot of misinformation circulates through social media such as WhatsApp and Twitter. Is the ministry equipped to deal with that?
We are very equipped. We are constantly sending information through our social media channels. Every two minutes, there’s a post by our communications person.
Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy has brought out information claiming certain practices and medicines as Preventive Management Steps. How effective are they and what kind of research has gone into it?
That question has to be asked to the Ministry of AYUSH. We do not know about it.