Tamil Nadu Requests Guidelines For Screening Chinese Travellers

In light of the potential threat of a new wave of COVID-19 outbreak in China, Director of Public Health T.S. Selvavinayagam wrote to the Union Health Ministry on Wednesday asking for instructions to mandate testing of international travellers arriving from China and Hong Kong.

He referred to the five-step method of trace, test, treat, immunise, and adhere to COVID-19 proper behaviour in the letter, which he had previously mentioned. As the incidence of new cases had substantially decreased, the Center has updated its earlier recommendations and discontinued the random testing of 2% of international travellers.

However, according to statistics in the public domain quoted by Dr. Selvavinayagam, China recorded 430 fatalities and more than 1.48 lakh cases of COVID-19 infection in the previous week, with the increase being attributed to Omicron Variant BF.7. He said that the World Health Organization had also confirmed this.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu had reported 49 new cases in the previous week and had given 97% of the population both the first and second doses of the prophylactic vaccine. The official further stated that 12,74,108,322 dosages had already been provided in the State.