Pune airport : Passengers coming from Dubai must submit universal health screening form

Sumit Singh

Mumbai/Pune, March 4, 2020 : In the backdrop of Coronavirus spread across the globe, now passengers coming from Dubai have to submit self declaration forms for the universal health screening.

“All our International passengers coming from Dubai are requested to fill up the self declaration forms for the universal health screening. The forms are available in your flight. Kindly deposit the filled up form with immigration officer on arrival”, Pune airport director tweeted.

Corona patient not found in Maharashtra : Health minister Rajesh Tope

“As a precautionary measure to avoid possibility of infection of the Corona Virus, people can use washed and cleaned handkerchiefs instead of masks. The death rate of people affected with Corona virus in the entire world is just between 2.5 to 3 percent. The state government has taken all precautionary measures to curb the infection of this virus. The Cyber crime cell had been directed to file offences against people spreading false messages on social media. Not a single suspected patient had been found in the entire Maharashtra and so the people of the state should not get panic. All of us should come together to fight the deadly virus” urged Health Minister Mr Rajesh Tope.

He was replying to the short duration discussion raised by member Prakash Gajbhiye in the state legislative council, today. Mr Tope further said that the state government has made all preparations to curb the infection of the Corona. Till date, 65 thousand 121 travellers arriving at Mumbai International Airport by 551 Airbuses had undergone thermal scanning. 401 passengers arrived in the state from the Corona affected countries. Out of these, 152 patients admitted to various hospitals and they were tested twice, for the Corona virus. The laboratory reports of 149 people were found negative. 143 were released from the hospitals. Presently six people are kept under observation. Two in Naidu and Mangeshkar hospitals in Pune are under observation while four others at Kasturba and Hinduja hospitals in Mumbai.

All the travellers arriving by the ships are also tested at the ports. As of today, 676 travellers arriving by 30 ships had undergone tests for Corona virus and none of them were found to be infected. As per the instructions of the union government, the tests of passengers coming from 12 countries at the Mumbai International Airport were done but now, all the travellers coming from other countries had to undergo thermal scanning. It had been made mandatory for all of them to submit an affidavit mentioning from which country they are coming and where do they intend to go. Similarly, their contact details and other information is also sought in the affidavit.

As of today, five people have been found to be positive in India. They include three from Kerala and one each from Delhi and Telangana. They were found positive by the tests performed at local hospitals and their test report from National Institute of Virology, Pune is yet to be received.

Giving information about the Corona scenario at the global level, the health minister said that 80 thousand people have been found infected in China and two thousand 915 have died. In Japan, 280 were infected and 12 had lost their lives where as one thousand people were affected by the deadly virus in Iran and 66 died. Another two thousand were found positive for Corona virus in Italy and 62 of them lost their lives. Four thousand 300 were Corona positive in South Korea and 26 lost their lives.

The facility of Quarantine (isolated ward) is made available at Kasturba, Rajwadi, Kurla, Bandra and Balasaheb Thackeray trauma care in Mumbai. Beside this, at least 10 bed Quarantine wards are erected at district hospitals across the state.