Additional doctors, counters, forms to be arranged at airports as part of coronavirus screening

Additional counters, doctors, medical equipment and modified forms in pre-immigration area of airports will be arranged as part of coronavirus screening, an official said on Wednesday. After the Centre's announcement that all international passengers arriving in India would henceforth be screened, Aviation Secretary P S Kharola held a four-hour long meeting with officials from various departments and airports. He directed them to have additional counters, doctors, medical equipment and modified forms in pre-immigration area, the official said. The modified forms will be filled with a duplicate copy -- one copy will remain with airport health authorities and other with the immigration department. Kharola said sufficient manpower must be arranged with the help of respective state governments, immigration departments and the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

Through the 21 international airports in the country, a total of 25.15 lakh people arrived in India in March last year, according to the data by aviation regulator DGCA. This means, around 83,000 passengers came to India daily on international flights.

While the number of international passengers landing in India has decreased significantly since the coronavirus outbreak, there are still thousands of passengers coming to India everyday from abroad. Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan had earlier in the day said that there have been a total of 28 positive cases - which includes 16 Italian tourists -- of novel coronavirus in India yet..