Coronavirus threat: 20 Kashmiri students being quarantined in Delhi

Srinagar, Feb 5: At least 20 Kashmiri students who travelled back to India from Hubei University of Medicine in Shiyan city of China earlier this week are being quarantined at the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) base Hospital in Chhawla, Delhi.

The exercise is a part of India’s sustained precautionary measures to keep at bay novel Coronavirus threat which originated in Wuhan city of China last month and has killed more than 400 people in the country since then, while infecting over 20,000 globally.

On February 02, around 20 Kashmiri students were among the 406 people admitted at ITBP base hospital after they were brought in two batches from Wuhan onboard separate Air India flights.

Quarantine centers have been set up in the camp by the army to regularly monitor the health of evacuated people who were staying in the close vicinity of the Wuhan and they have been kept in isolation.

One of the Kashmiri students admitted in the facility said: “We have been admitted here on Sunday for about 14 days. They have set up quarantine centre and every day we have to undergo health checkups including body temperature and pulse rate monitoring.”

The student added that they had undergone a sneezing reflex test on February 04 and its report is yet to come.

“Those people who were staying in the vicinity of Wuhan, which is the epicenter of the outbreak, have been asked to remain in isolation and undergo regular checkup for about 15 days,” the student said.

Dr. Shafqat Khan, Nodal Officer for J&K to deal with Coronavirus threat, said: “Around 23 students of J&K reached home safely during the past few days and 16 among them were from Kashmir. 11 students have undergone checkup and seven among them have been declared negative.”

“Students have been advised to remain in isolation for two weeks,” he added.

Besides, 32 Kashmiris, mostly students, are yet to be evacuated from various areas in China.

According to Chinese government officials, the death toll in the coronavirus epidemic has risen up to 490 in the country while the number of confirmed cases has climbed to 24,324.