In a major move, the Telangana government said that it had decided to quarantine all passengers (Indians and foreign nationals) who arrive at Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGI) from China, Iran, Italy, Republic of Korea, France, Germany and Spain, immediately after their arrival in the city.
"This includes those who arrive through direct flights or via hubs like Dubai, Abu Dhabi or have a travel history to these seven countries after March 15," a memo from the Special Chief Secretary (Health and Family Welfare) said.
The memo which was issued to the Director of Public Health and Family Welfare, the Airport Health Officer, Cyberabad Commissioner of Police, and several other senior officials said that this should be followed strictly.
"The passengers should be counselled on the need for quarantine and the procedure being adopted. All symptomatic passengers will be isolated and escorted to isolation facilities at designated hospitals. All asymptomatic passengers will be sent to the quarantine facility for a period of 14 days," the memo stated.
During the quarantine, if any individual develops symptoms, the state government said that they would immediately be shifted to designated hospitals after following the due procedure for isolation.
To combat spread of #COVID19 universal screening of all passengers, including segregration of passengers from 15 identified nations is effectively implemented at #RGIA. #AAI with #APHO, airlines and stakeholders leaving no stone unturned to ensure safety. @ushapadhee1996 pic.twitter.com/Loy1EQyFlB
— RGIA Hyderabad (@RGIAHyd) March 11, 2020
This comes a day after Telangana saw its third positive case of coronavirus – a 46-year-old man with a travel history to the Netherlands.
In a related development, the state government also ordered that it would begin identifying admissions in hospitals across the state due to Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (SARI).
"This will be used as a surrogate marker for COVID-19. A rising trend of SARI cases will trigger the need for further investigation for COVID-19," the government said.
Stating that surveillance will be done in hospitals where a majority of patients get admitted for severe respiratory problems identical to those seen in COVID-19, the government said that all teaching hospitals, district hospitals, area hospitals and corporate and other private hospitals were being identified as sentinel sites for surveillance.
"The reporting shall start retrospectively from March 8, 2020 to understand the baseline admissions of each facility," the order stated.
Earlier this week, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao announced that all public gatherings in the state would be banned until March 31. It also said that educational institutes, cinema halls, pubs, bars, clubs, gyms, swimming pools, museums, zoo parks, indoor and outdoor stadiums would be closed.
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