HYDERABAD: With one more person testing positive for coronavirus (Covid-19) in the city, the state government has urged the Centre to permit mandatory quarantine for anyone returning from affected countries.
Coronavirus outbreak live updateHealth authorities said that anyone returning from China, South Korea, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Iran, irrespective of their symptoms can end up spending 14 days in isolation.
Passengers have been categorised into A, B and C categories depending on their risk levels.
Asymptomatic passengers coming from any coronavirus-affected country, but having co-morbid conditions like diabetes and hypertension fall in category ‘B’ (moderate risk), while asymptomatic passengers without any health condition fall in category ‘C’ (low risk).
So far, category ‘A’ (high risk) passengers with symptoms and those under category ‘B’ have been place under hospital isolation, while category ‘C’ passengers have been advised self-isolation at home.
“Many passengers do not follow our guidelines and this increases the risk of spreading the virus. Instead, we want to quarantine all of them at hospitals,” said a senior official from the state health department.
Health department officials, on Sunday, discussed how to handle unruly passengers who refuse to cooperate with health authorities with top police officials. “The modalities and the role of the police was discussed. It is important to prevent the spread of Covid-19 before it goes out of hand,” said an official on conditions of anonymity.