Hyderabad: A mandatory 28-day home quarantine for passengers returning from the coronavirus-affected China and other countries into Hyderabad has been ordered by the Central government, irrespective of whether they display any of the symptoms of the disease or not. This will imply that 3,297 passengers, who landed in Hyderabad since January 15 till Tuesday, will have remain quarantined and avoid coming into direct contact from anyone outside of their homes for the specified period.
In addition, screening of passengers from China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia will henceforth be conducted on the aerobridges, before passengers are allowed into the airport.
The Centre on Tuesday said that dedicated gates for aircraft arriving from virus-affected countries should be identified as passengers need to be scr-eened on the aerobridges. This system will also be put in place at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in the city.
With respect to home quarantines, local district medical and health officials have been instructed to implement a thrice-a-day monitoring of health of these passengers as well as that of their family members, who too have to remain quarantined for four weeks. “Every morning, afternoon and evening, our staff is calling them on phones and checking on their health, including for any possible disease symptoms,” Dr G. Srinivasa Rao, director, health department, said.
