Telangana State Gets Into Combat Mode

Hyderabad: With incidents of positive Covid-19 symptoms surfacing in foreign returned passengers while they were perfectly alright showing no symptoms after landing in various cities across the country, the Union Health Ministry has decided to tighten the screws further.

Accordingly, all States including Telangana were instructed to adopt a three-pronged strategy as far as passengers coming from seven severely affected countries are concerned including China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Germany and France.

Earlier, passengers coming from these countries were used to be classified as symptomatic and asymptomatic. Those who were found to be symptomatic in universal thermal screening being done at the airport were sent directly to Gandhi or Fever hospitals for admission and collection of samples.

Those who were asymptomatic were advised home quarantine for 14 days and their contact details were shared with rapid response teams to monitor their health condition on a daily basis.

But from Friday night onwards, it has been decided that the government itself would quarantine patients, who are found to be asymptomatic but have a medical history of diabetes, BP, cancer etc.

They will be kept under isolation at a government chosen facility and health department will take care of them in the meanwhile.

After conveyed about the Centre's decision, the Telangana government okayed Haritha Resorts at Vikarabad and the same was communicated to the airport health authorities at Shamshabad.

According to Dr Anuradha Medoju, Union health ministry in charge for TS and AP, asymptomatic passengers who have co-morbid conditions and travel history to these seven nations would be taken directly to Vikarabad.

The transport department has been contacted to facilitate their transport from Shamshabad to Vikarabad and they have agreed to do the needful. This fresh decision assumes significance in the wake of events unfolding relating to 76-year-old Karnataka passenger who died after testing positive to the virus.

He landed in Shamshabad airport on February 29. He had other health complications but was asymptomatic to Covid-19 and hence was allowed to go home.

However, he developed symptoms and coupled with his health complications his health deteriorated rapidly. His sample was collected on March 9 and the result came on March 10 afternoon but he died within a few hours after that.

Meanwhile, some groups in Vikarabad held a protest on Saturday afternoon demanding the government to withdraw its decision to set up an isolation centre for Covid-19 suspects there.