Telangana Health Minister Eatala Rajender on Wednesday requested Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Harsh Vardhan to cancel all the international flights coming to India. Eatala said that the government of India should make alternate arrangements at the embassies, and treat Indians who are stranded at airports abroad, there itself, and impose a ban on foreign flights.
The minister expressed that the state doesn’t have adequate infrastructure to handle such a huge volume of patients.
“If one infected person comes here, there is a possibility of that person spreading the disease to thousands of people. For that reason, we have made this request. We don’t know if the government of India will consider our request or not,” Eatala said while addressing the media on Wednesday evening.
The Telangana government has already taken up measures to quarantine all passengers (Indian and foreign nationals) returning from seven countries (China, Iran, Italy, Republic of Korea, France, Germany and Spain).
Passengers who are asymptomatic will be taken to quarantine facilities that have been set up at Vikarabad and Dulapally for 14 days, while those who are symptomatic would be rushed to the isolation ward in Gandhi Hospital. The minister said that they have stationed 40 buses at the airport for this purpose.
Wednesday saw the number of cases in Telangana double, as seven Indonesians, who were part of a 10-member group which had come to Telangana's Karimnagar town earlier this week for a religious meeting, tested positive for the virus. This, after an Indonesian man in the group was rushed to the Gandhi Hospital and tested positive on Tuesday.
The state has been reporting a positive case every day since last Saturday. However, Wednesday turned out to be the worst so far with eight people testing positive.
The minister also expressed his disappointment with parents taking their children to public places despite being warned.
“We have given holidays to schools, not to take your kids to parks, malls or your relatives' place. It was given to isolate yourself and contain the spread of the disease. Please don’t take this lightly. This is a serious issue. The government alone can’t fight this, everyone has to cooperate and help,” Eatala appealed.
Read: 7 Indonesians test positive for coronavirus in Telangana, were on same train