Chinese man with coronavirus symptoms put into isolation ward in Islamabad hospital

Bing Yang detected with high-temperature during screening at the Islamabad airport, according to sources

RAWALPINDI: A Chinese national, suspected of having the novel coronavirus, was shifted to an isolation ward of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) from the Islamabad airport on Tuesday.

As flight operations between Pakistan and China resumed on Monday, sourced told The Express Tribune that a flight carrying 122 passengers from Beijing landed at the Islamabad airport earlier in the evening and during the screening one of the Chinese nationals, Bing Yang, detected with high-temperature, which is one of the symptoms of the deadly virus.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar  Mirza has already directed authorities dealing with airport and medical services to maintain strict vigilance at the points of entry and check travellers coming in from affected regions.



As per the directives, every passenger from China would have to pass through health counters set up at all major international airports where doctors and paramedics would inspect them through thermal body scanning machines and thermometers.

Following the standard operating procedure, the authorities immediately separated Yang from other passengers and shifted him to the Pims hospital through ambulance, the sources added.

Any suspected patient of the contagious virus is kept under observation for at least six days at an isolation ward.

The disease has killed more than 425 people and infected a further 20,000 in China, nearly all of them in central Hubei province — the epicentre of the outbreak — and spread to two-dozen countries since it emerged in December last year.