Coronavirus. PHOTO: REUTERS

Five suspected of having coronavirus land at IIA

Airport officials rush four Pakistanis and a Chinese national to PIMS


Saleh Mughal February 09, 2020
RAWALPINDI: Five passengers with visible symptoms of novel coronavirus were rushed to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) after they landed at Islamabad International Airport (IIA) from a flight coming from China.

IIA officials told The Express Tribune that five passengers who landed at IIA from a flight from China were segregated from other passengers as their body temperatures were recorded higher than normal.

They were shifted to Pims for further tests. The passengers include a Chinese national and four locals including a woman.

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The airport officials said that a flight of Air China carrying some 177 passengers landed at IIA on Friday night. During screening of passengers, symptoms of novel coronavirus were detected in five passengers namely Ataur Rehman, Muhammad Naveed, Sultan Ahmed, Mahrukh and a Chinese national Jun Zhang. The body temperature of these people was higher than normal when they passed through thermal scanners.

At this, the officials segregated all of them from other passengers, provided them protective gear such as face mask and moved them to Pims’ isolation ward for further investigation. Two other passengers including a Chinese national and a local who hailed from Peshawar were currently under observation at Pims.

Flights from China

Soon after the resumption of flight operations from  China after the coronavirus outbreak, around 500 passengers landed at IIA on three different flights from the neighbouring country on Saturday. Airport officials were vigilantly carrying out screening of the arriving passengers as the threat of the spread of the fatal virus is still prevalent.

First flight from China on Saturday carried some 108 passengers, including 82 Pakistanis, 24 Chinese nationals and a British national. Some eight Chinese nationals arrived in Pakistan on the second flight of the day. All the passengers were cleared after they went through the screening process at the airport. IIA sources said that the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) with the assistance of the National Institute of Health (NIH) was carrying out screening of passengers for the detection of the novel coronavirus.

Arrangements at Pims

Pims Spokesperson Dr Waseem Khawaja said that they have completed all arrangements for diagnosing coronavirus and the isolation ward has also been established at the healthcare facility for quarantining such patients for treatment.

He said that the samples of suspected coronavirus cases had been sent to the laboratory for determining the presence of the virus and fortunately, he added, none of the patients was found to have contracted the disease.

Telling about the symptoms of the virus, Dr Khawaja said that an individual who was possibly affected with the virus would face problems in breathing besides coughing and high fever.

“We can take preventive measures to curtail the spread of the deadly virus,” the spokesperson added.

He said that the suspected patients should keep on a face mask so that the virus could not transmit to others.

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The official suggested avoiding direct contact with people suffering from acute respiratory infections. Dr Khwaja further asked for maintaining a distance from those infected with the virus and to keep washing their hands frequently.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 9th, 2020.

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