Coronavirus outbreak: Doctors to be stationed at Amritsar airport from tomorrow to screen passengers, say govt officials

Chandigarh: The Punjab government has asked all district hospitals to put in place necessary arrangements to tackle any emergent situation in view of the outbreak of novel coronavirus (nCoV) in China, and said a team of doctors will be stationed at the Amritsar international airport starting Monday for screening passengers. [caption id=“attachment_7868241” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Getty Images.[/caption] “A panel of doctors will be sitting at the Amritsar international airport from Monday onwards (for the screening of passengers). If any passenger comes with symptoms will be screened at that place and if required, next steps will be taken”, said Dr Gagandeep Singh, State Programme Officer, Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (Punjab). “We have two international airports, Amritsar and Mohali. There is no flight (from China) at Mohali but Amritsar airport does have some connecting flights which have a halt at China and Hong Kong. Our civil surgeons have taken a meeting with the officials concerned at both airports and they have been alerted”, said Singh. Amritsar was among 12 designated airports in the country where the Centre had issued an advisory for coronavirus. He said advisory would be displayed at the airports for passengers for self-reporting of their illness. If the symptoms are there, then the passenger will be examined, he further said. Singh said all the district hospitals and medical colleges had been alerted for putting in place the necessary arrangements. They had been asked to have separate isolation wards and ventilators support.