Travel
Sites Visit
Goa, Karnataka,
Kerala, Tamil
Nadu, Andhra Pradesh in
South India, Delhi, Rajasthan,
Uttar Pradesh, Himachal
Pradesh in North India, Assam, Bengal,
Sikkim in East India |
| |
Over 17,000 airline
passengers screened for swine flu across India New
Delhi: Over 17,000
airline passengers have been screened at various airports around the country for
swine flu in the wake of the Indian Government ordering a health screening of
all passengers coming from countries affected by the virus. Senior Ministry of
Health and Family Welfare officials said that screenings are taking place in airports
at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Goa, Amritsar, Cochin,
Ahmedabad, Trichy and Srinagar. They said the remaining international airports
would also start this activity shortly. A total of 17,949 passengers have been
screened so far. Ninety-six doctors have been deployed to man 32 counters at the
above airports, they added. The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported human
cases of Influenza A [H1N1][earlier referred to as Swine Influenza] caused by
a re-assorted Swine flu virus. As on April 30, 2009, eleven countries have officially
reported 257 laboratory confirmed cases of influenza A/H1N1 infection with eight
deaths. The USA has reported 109 laboratory confirmed human cases with one death
and Mexico reported 97 cases including seven deaths. The other countries which
have reported laboratory confirmed cases with no deaths are: Austria (1), Canada
(19), Germany (3), Israel (2), New Zealand (3), Spain (13) The United Kingdom
(8), Netherlands (1) and Switzerland (1) . The decision of MoHFW to decentralize
the medical supplies [Oseltamivir and personal protective equipments] has been
effected. About 2.50 lakh capsules of Oseltamivir , 18,000 PPE and over one lakh
of triple layer surgical masks have been dispatched to the Regional Offices of
Health & F.W. This would cut short the lead time in case a suspected cluster is
to be contained. "We have set up special counters so that passengers can be screened.
Passengers are being asked to fill up forms to declare if they have recently visited
countries like America, Mexico and Canada," said Arun Arora, Associate Vice-President,
Corporate Communication, Indira Gandhi International Airport. Passengers said
they were being asked whether they were suffering from swine flu. "They are asking
about have you had fever?, have you had rash?. They just ask you about the symptoms
of swine flu and they screen you," said Varva, a passenger. On Thursday, a senior
official of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said that there is no swine
flu in India, but added that should the virus hit the country, the government
is fully prepared to handle it. Vineet Choudhary, Joint Secretary, Health, said
here that there is no suspected case of swine flu in India and that surveillance
is in place at all airports. Choudhary also said the Ministry is taking to companies
that manufacture the antidote. Earlier, the Government of Tripura had sounded
an alert across the state to check an outbreak of the deadly virus, official sources
said. The announcements in India followed a World Health Organisation (WHO) warning
that "all of humanity is under threat" from a potential swine flu pandemic. The
WHO raised the swine flu threat awareness level to 5 out of 6, indicating that
the world is on the brink of a pandemic. -May
1, 2009 | |
|