66,977 travellers screened at Mumbai airport till Mar 4, 161 suspected Corona patients test negative

In the wake of Coronavirus outbreak, as many as 66,977 travellers from 563 flights have been screened at Mumbai International Airport till March 4, as per Maharashtra Public Health Department on Wednesday.

As travellers coming from all Corona affected countries are being screened at International airports, Maharashtra has 454 travellers coming from Corona affected areas.

Till date out of 454 travellers, 293 have completed their follow-up of 14 days. Apart from Mumbai, Pune and Thane travellers are also monitored in Gadchiroli, Nanded, Buldhana, Nagpur, Wardha, Sangli, Ahmednagar, Amaravati, Palghar, Jalgaon, Chandrapur, Nashik, Solapur and Satara districts.

From January 18 till date, 167 symptomatic travellers have been isolated in identified isolation facilities. Out of them, 161 have been found negative as per the reports of National Institute of Virology, Pune. Report of 6 persons is still awaited. At present, 9 travellers are still in the hospital, 7 at Mumbai and 1 each at Nashik and Nanded.

As per guidelines from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW), all travellers coming from Wuhan city of China are being isolated and tested for Corona whether symptomatic or asymptomatic. "All travellers coming from other affected countries have been asked to observe home isolation for 2 weeks from their date of departure from the affected country while they are being followed during this period by local health authority daily for health status. If any of such under surveillance traveller develop symptoms, he /she is admitted at an isolated ward and tested at an identified laboratory," it said.

The state health department has appealed to use a mask, however, it said it is not essential for the general population to use masks at the current moment.

"Mask is a must for any person with a history of travel to affected areas or persons having contact with infected persons, those showing symptoms of the disease and medical staff.N 95 mask is only for medical staff treating patients," it added.