30 January,2020 09:22 AM IST | New Delhi | Agencies
Thermal screening of passengers for possible exposure to the deadly Coronavirus is being done at 21 airports. Representation pic/AFP
New Delhi: The Union Health Ministry on Wednesday asked Indians to refrain from travelling to China where the novel coronavirus (nCoV) has claimed over 100 lives.
The ministry issued a fresh travel advisory and also urged people travelling to China to monitor their health closely. It asked people to use 24x7 helpline (011-23978046) for queries related to respiratory infection.
"In the view of the spurt of cases being reported in China and travel related cases appearing in many countries...all non-essential travel to China to be avoided," it said.
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The only two carriers that fly to China - IndiGo and Air India - on Wednesday announced suspension of most of their flights to China. IndiGo said it will suspend its flights on the Bengaluru-Hong Kong route from February 1 and on the Delhi-Chengdu route from February 1 to 20. Similarly, Air India is suspending its flights on Delhi-Shanghai route from January 31 to February 14.
IndiGo also clarified that for now, it will continue to operate Kolkata-Guangzhou flight which it is "monitoring on a daily basis". "And for our operating crew, we are ensuring that they return on the inbound flights without any layover in China," it said. Both the airlines have asked the crew members working on flights between India and South East Asia to wear N95 masks.
As part of the preparedness, India has also increased the number of airports from seven to 21 where thermal screening of passengers is being done for a possible exposure to the deadly nCoV.
The health ministry also has established four more laboratories apart from the NIV-Pune for testing samples. The four labs for the testing samples have been made functional at Alleppey, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai.
No case of the novel coronavirus has been detected in India, though hundreds of people remain under observation in many states including as many as 806 in Kerala, according to officials.
Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan are also among the states that have kept some people, with travel history to China, under observation after they showed novel coronavirus-like symptoms.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Wednesday said that the Chinese government has been requested for permission to operate two flights to evacuate Indian nationals from Hubei province in China.
"Chinese Government [has been] requested for permission to operate two flights to bring back our nationals from Hubei Province of China. @EOIBeijing in touch with Chinese authorities on the ground to work out necessary logistics. We will share regular updates," MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.
The MEA initiated the process to evacuate Indians from Wuhan on Tuesday after talks with the Chinese authorities. The Wuhan nCoV is a new strain of coronavirus that has not been identified before.
31 Jan
Day Air India will suspend India-China operations
01 Feb
Day IndiGo will suspend India-China operations
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