Coronavirus outbreak: Two passengers from Bangkok tested positive during thermal screening at Kolkata airport; both sent to Beliaghata ID Hospital

Kolkata: Two passengers who arrived at NSCBI Airport from Bangkok have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, Airports Authority of India officials said on Thursday. With this, a total of three passengers have tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Kolkata. [caption id=“attachment_7868241” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Getty Images[/caption] A passenger called Himadri Barman tested positive on Tuesday, and Nagendra Singh tested positive on Wednesday, the Director of NSCBI Airport, Kaushik Bhattacharjee, told PTI. Both of them were sent to Beliaghata ID Hospital, he said. “Earlier a passenger called Anita Oraon had also tested positive during thermal scanning,” Bhattacharjee said. Already two airlines which had direct flights between Kolkata and China have suspended their flights. Low cost carier IndiGo has temporarily suspended its flights between Kolkata and Guangzhou from 6 February. “In line with the WHO guideline to contain the spread of coronavirus, IndiGo will be suspending its Kolkata- Guangzhou service from 6 February, 2020 to 25 February, 2020 and Guangzhou-Kolkata from 7 February till 26 February,” the airline had said in a statement. After IndiGo, China Eastern Airlines suspended its flights between Kolkata and Kunming in China from 10 February to 29 February. Passengers of flights coming to Kolkata from Kunming and Guangzhou in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok were being screened since 17 January. At present, passengers arriving from Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok are being screened as no flights are operating to and from China.