Govt to come up with detailed guidelines for MERS

Government will soon come out with detailed guidelines on various preventive measures for passengers arriving from or travelling to nations affected by MERS outbreak, a viral respiratory disease.
The advisory to be issued by the Union Health Ministry on Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) will have various precautions and 'dos and donts' for travellers visiting and arriving from 26 odd countries especially the Gulf region as well as for the Haj pilgrims.
MERS is a viral respiratory disease caused by novel coronavirus that was first identified in Saudi Arabia in 2012. Coronavirus are large family of virus which can cause diseases ranging from common cold to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

"We will come out with guidelines soon on various precautions which should be taken by travellers who are both travelling from India to MERS affected countries as well as arriving from there. We will be doing passive screening of the passengers arriving here," a senior Health Ministry official said.
The Ministry will also ask the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) to remain on alert while it will also formally communicate the guidelines to the Haj Committee, Home Ministry and Ministry of Civil Aviation amongst others.
The official said that health officials at the airports will also be alerted while airlines will be asked to make annoucements about the advisory. There are also plans to put on display certain signs at airports, the senior official said.

This comes even as South Korea on Friday said that the MERS outbreak that has killed 24 people appears to have begun subsiding. Thailand too has confirmed its first known case of the deadly virus.

According to Health Ministry officials, approximately 36 per cent of the reported patients with MERS have died. Since Septmeber 2012 to June 2015, globally, WHO has been notified of 1,289 laboratory confirmed cases of infection of MERS-CoV including at least 455 related deaths.
While the 'dos' as per the Health Ministry advise covering mouth and nose with hankerchief, washing hands with soaps, avoiding touching eyes, nose or mouth and avoiding crowded places amongst others, the 'donts' prescribe avoiding shaking hands or hugging while greeting and taking medicines without consulting physicians.

As per the Health Ministry, the typical MERS symptoms include fever, cough and shortness of breath. Pneumonia is common but not always present while gastrointestinal symptoms including diarrhoea have also been reported.