Coronavirus: Govt docs happy over Kochi airport preparedness

A team of doctors deputed by the Union Health Ministry to conduct thermal screening for the novel coronavirus (nCoV) at the Cochin International Airport here on Monday expressed satisfaction over the preparedness of the airport authorities.

"They (doctors) have expressed satisfaction over the arrangement made here. They examined the passenger manifests and details of 178 passengers who were screened by the airport health officers," a statement from the airport said.

The central team, comprising doctors including Pushpendra Kumar Verma, Ramesh Chandra Meena and Shoukathali, is also visiting Kalamassery Medical College Hospital where an isolation ward has been set up to observe patients.

While two persons, who returned from China where there was an outbreak of the coronavirus, are under observation in the Kalamassery Medical College Hospital, one is under observation at a private hospital here, Ernakulam district health officals said.

Their health condition is normal, officials said.

The three suspected patients blood samples have been taken and sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune, they added.

On Friday last, 80 people who returned to Kerala from China were kept under surveillance by health officials in the state for possible exposure to the coronavirus that has created panic across the world, health officials had said.

While seven people, who had shown mild symptoms of fever, cough and sore throat, were being treated at various health facilities in the state, 73 others have been put under home surveillance, officials said.

An update from the airport here had said 24 passengers underwent screening for the virus but no suspicious case was reported.