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Indians in Wuhan Asked to Give Consent, Flight Likely on Jan 31

11 Quarantined in Bengaluru, Evacuation Flight to Ply on Jan 31

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The n-COV 19 coronavirus was first reported in WHO Disease outbreak news on Jan 5 in China's Wuhan, and progressively spread across many countries. Here's what the latest India updates on the virus are, which though is of the same genre as SARS of 2003, but is spreading far more quickly than that:

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Four Persons Under Observation for Coronavirus in Bengaluru

The Karnataka Family Health and Welfare Department has put four persons under observation for the Coronavirus infection, an official said on Tuesday.

"We are observing four people and have quarantined 11 people till January 28 for Coronavirus," Family Health and Welfare Department's Joint Secretary, Communicable Diseases, B.T. Prakash Kumar.

In eight days time from January 20 to 28, as many as 3,275 passengers were subjected to thermal screening at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in the city. Kumar said no passenger tested positive for the virus at the airport.

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Coronavirus: Goa's 1st Suspect Had Travelled to China

Goa's first coronavirus suspect, a middle-aged Serbian national, who was on Tuesday quarantined at the newly created isolation ward of a top government facility, had arrived in India after visiting a Chinese city, nearly 750 km from Wuhan, the epicentre of the virus, an official said.The Serbian, whose identity has not been disclosed by Goa health authorities, had arrived in India last week via the national capital and is currently under observation at the Goa Medical College near Panaji."The person has developed a sore throat which is one of the symptoms of the coronavirus. He had visited a city in China which is located around 750 km from Wuhan, where the virus is believed to have originated from," said Jose D'Sa, Director of state Health Services department."We have kept him under observation and blood samples drawn from him have been sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune for examination," D'Sa also said.

FIT explains what it means to be quarantined.

  • Airports like Delhi, Mumbai, etc. have health counters which are located before Immigration and the passengers are required to report to it. They also need to present the health card (asking questions pertaining to the disease or travel to affected country) to the doctor and undergo thermal screening.
  • Only by passing through the thermal screening can they be cleared for immigration.
  • If, for some reason, the passenger is suspected to be a patient, then the passenger is examined in detail by the APHO doctor (Airport Health Organisation)
  • First, the suspected patient is sent to the isolation chamber, which is located adjacent to the immigration/ Health counters.
  • If found to be suffering from the disease/ exhibiting symptoms, they are referred to a quarantine hospital.
Researchers have identified India among the top 30 high risk countries with regards to the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Meanwhile, after setting up special wards in Delhi to treat suspected coronavirus patients and to check the spread of the contagious disease, the Centre has ordered the setting up of such quarantine wards in other states as well.

Assuring people, Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Harsh Vardhan has said that with precautionary efforts, the country can fight diseases like novel Coronavirus (nCov).

India has also started the preparations for evacuating the Indian nationals trapped in Wuhan city, the epicentre of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) epidemic, placed under a lockdown.

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Air India Likely to Ply Evacuation Flight to Wuhan on Jan 31: Sources

Air India is likely to operate a flight service to Wuhan in Central China to evacuate Indians stuck in the city due to the outbreak of Coronavirus, sources said on Tuesday.

However, when contacted, the airline's CMD Ashwani Lohani said that the airline is prepared to operate the flight, but did not divulge the date of commencing the service.

The airline is expected to operate a flight using Boeing 747.

Earlier, India's civil aviation regulator DGCA gave its clearance to the airline to operate the Mumbai-Delhi-Wuhan flight.

Highly placed sources said that Civil Aviation Secretary P.S. Kharola had back-to-back consultation here on Tuesday with Air India officials about operating the special flight.

According to sources, the major worry with regards to evacuating Indians from Wuhan and other affected areas is about screening the people boarding the flight.

Moreover, the passengers have to be constantly monitored during the flight and have to be quarantined after reaching Delhi.

"Do we have the required infrastructure to deal with this? The aircraft, crew and the passengers from Wuhan have to be isolated and only after ruling out infection they are to be allowed to leave," a source said.

He added that it is a complicated issue as India cannot shrug off its responsibility.

"So, infected or not infected, they have to be brought back," the source said.

The new virus, which is of the same genre as SARS which broke out in 2003, was first reported in the WHO Disease Outbreak news on January 5, 2020. It has progressively spread across many countries from its epicentre in Wuhan.

In a bid to curb the spread of the virus, Chinese authorities have closed transportation services across many parts of the country, including Wuhan.

The new virus has spread at a much faster pace than the 2003 SARS epidemic.

Wuhan is the hub of transport and industry in central China.

(With inputs from IANS)

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Topics:  Quint Fit   Coronavirus 2019 

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