Govt formulates new strategy to trace symptom-free COVID-19 patients

By keeping a record of inbound passengers, govt will be able to identify apparently healthy cases

KARACHI: The federal government has adopted a new strategy to trace all asymptomatic passengers with COVID-19, the mysterious viral pneumonia-like disease caused by the novel coronavirus, arriving from overseas.

Scientists have confirmed that patients start to show symptoms of coronavirus after five days of contracting the virus on average. Anyone who is symptom-free by day 12 is unlikely to get symptoms, but they may still be infectious carriers, according to the latest research.

The researchers advise suspected patients to self-isolate for 14 days to avoid spreading it to others.

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Under the new plan, health forms received from travelers at the airports would be handed over to the departments of health and surveillance. The concerned department would then be able to contact the returning travelers in their respective cities and conduct the “follow-up medical examination”.

This would enable the authorities to identify the coronavirus patients, who appeared healthy at the time of medical examination at airports.

The government has recently accepted Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah’s proposal of making it mandatory for all international passengers to declare their travel history of the last 14 days, in order to maintain their record for necessary screening at airports.

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The new strategy has been implemented by the Central Health Establishment (CHE) on the directives of Special Assistant to Prime Minister for Health Dr Zafar Mirza.

Confirming the development to The Express Tribune, CHE Director Dr Irfan Tahir on Tuesday said the strategy has been adopted as a precautionary measure to contain the spread of coronavirus in the country.

The travel data of inbound passengers includes addresses and telephone numbers. On complaints of flu and fever, passenger and their friends and family members and those who came in close contact with the passenger will also be examined.