NEW DELHI: Post dispatching all 406 people including seven Maldivians who were under quarantine for over a fortnight after being evacuated from the coronavirus hit Wuhan, the ITBP camp at Chhawla here is now gearing up for a fresh batch of people from China who are expected to reach India by Friday morning.
According to sources in the ITBP, the next batch of over 120 people is likely to include two diplomats. The process of disinfecting and fumigation has already been started by ITBP doctors and team.
AP Joshi, Chief Medical Officer, ITBP who is heading the team overseeing the medical team comprising 25 doctors, a psychologist and a psychiatrist said that the process of disinfecting and preparing the facility will continue for the next 24 hours.
"There is a team of almost 25 doctors out of which 14 doctors were from ITBP, two each from BSF, the CRPF and the SSB. Apart from this AIIMS and Safdarjung hospitals has given us two of their doctors. There were also psychiatrists and psychologists from RML and other hospitals," Dr Joshi told ANI.
Over 50 nursing staff apart from administration staff had taken care of the 406 people quarantined in the Chhawla facility.
Dr Joshi said, "Almost 120 people would be arriving in the next batch and after going through screening at the airport, they will reach the ITBP centre where they will be medically examined."
According to sources between 120 to 150 people are expected to reach Delhi on Friday at 4 am out of which two are diplomats, including one IPS officer.
Dr. Harvinder Singh, who is posted at the Chhawala unit said: "For the next batch, we will have a single entry and exit for people. Also, there will be a special room for children and have already asked the cook to take special care of kids if there will be any."
Chinese universities to postpone new semester for Indian students
China's State Council has decided to postpone the next semester for Indian students enrolled in Chinese universities and are unable to return in the wake of coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than 2000 people in China so far, the Indian Health Ministry said on Wednesday.
The Ministry also said that the students will be notified by their respective Universities accordingly.
Providing further details into the matter, the Ministry noted that in a meeting with Chinese Ambassador Sun Weidong, Secretary (Health) Preeti Sudan had requested that Indian students who returned from China had expressed concern that their respective universities were urging them to join soon as a new semester is about to begin or they would lose their admission status.
Following this, the Chinese Embassy responded to the request in a favourable manner and wrote to China's State Council to act over the matter.