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Coronavirus alert

Passengers to be screened at all ports


Published : 08 Feb 2020 08:44 PM | Updated : 04 Sep 2020 12:44 AM

Not only those coming from China, but all passengers will be screened at all ports from now on, to prevent the deadly corona virus, that has created a global health emergency, from spreading. The Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) says, from now on, all passengers arriving through different ports in the country would be screened thoroughly, to check the virus that has so far spread in 25 countries.

So, as a further precaution, from now on we will screen all inbound passengers regardless of their nationalities,” IEDCR Director Meerjady Sabrina Flora told newsmen at a briefing at its office Saturday. Dr Flora also urged people not to panic over the situation, but to stay alert.
IEDCR, the country’s state-run disease monitoring wing, has screened a total of 8,396 China returnees until February 7 from January 21, 2020, and all of them are safe.

The disease monitoring wing, is already running four hotline numbers -01937110011, 01937000011, 01927711784 and 01927711785 — to solve any type of confusion about the virus and creating awareness among people of the disease. “We have so far received a total of 1,227 calls on those hotline numbers of which, 139 were made on February 7. Of the total number of calls, 900 were made regarding coronavirus,” Dr Flora said.

The IEDCR official further said, 47 people have visited its office to take service regarding suspicion of coronavirus. “We have diagnosed samples from a total of 53 suspects, of which samples from three were diagnosed Friday,” the IEDCR chief added. The IEDCR official urged people to frequently wash their hands and not to touch their noses, eyes and faces with dirty hands to prevent the spread of the virus.

A total of 722 deaths were recorded in China, including one American. A Japanese man also died with symptoms consistent with the virus.
The number of confirmed cases in China stands at 34,546. Outside China, 270 cases have been confirmed in 25 countries, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), with two fatalities – one in Hong Kong and another in the Philippines.