COVID-19 outbreak: Unscreened travellers shunned by family, friends in Sindh

Centre, meant to screen at entry points, is shirking responsibility, says Sindh

KARACHI: Though the government claims otherwise, unscreened passengers returning from Iran, Iraq and Syria appear to be freely moving around their areas of residence - albeit shunned by those around them, due to fears of coronavirus transmission.

Sources told The Express Tribune that several travellers who had visited Iran and Iraq landed safely at the Karachi airport four days ago, going to their homes in Larkana without being screened for the infectious disease.

“My brother-in-law N* visited Iran and Iraq,” Rizwan Shaikh, a resident of Rato Dero, told The Express Tribune. “I have told my wife to close the doors of our house and not to let her brother and his family enter.”

Shaikh said that even though N was still healthy and showed no symptoms of flu or fever, everyone in the area was afraid of him. “No one from the government has quarantined him or conducted other tests,” he pointed out.

According to N’s family, the young man is a cleric in Baghdad and recently visited Iran with another friend. “Since people are afraid of his presence, he has confined himself to his house on his own,” added Shaikh.

Meanwhile, Ghafoor Jat, from Sanghar, told The Express Tribune that two men in his village had returned from Iran last week. “No one has yet approached them for testing. They were working in the fields without any symptoms, but now, after media reports, they have switched off their phones and moved from the village to Sanghar city,” he disclosed.

The Centre’s domain

As the novel coronavirus spreads across the globe, with 20 patients in Pakistan now as well, it has created fears about an outbreak in the country. Though there has been much talk about screening travellers as they return to the country, reports of gaps in the system have now led to the Sindh government accusing the Centre of shirking its responsibilities.

On Wednesday, the Sindh government asked the Centre to establish a quarantine facility near Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport, pointing out that at least 14 cases of COVID-19 identified in the metropolis had reached the city via the airport.

“None of the cases in Sindh are locally transmitted. They all came through the airport,” said Sindh government spokesperson Murtaza Wahab. “Constitutionally, keeping a check at the airports and seaports is the domain of the federal government. We [the Sindh government] cannot deploy our staff there.”

Speaking to The Express Tribune, he explained that Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah had been telling the Federal Investigation Agency and the Civil Aviation Authority, both of which had representatives present in daily coronavirus taskforce meetings, to check those entering the country. But, he added, nothing was being done as yet.

“We have been asking them to do so again and again, but there is no response,” he stated, confirming that a letter had been sent to the Centre asking for the quarantine facility in order to limit suspected travellers to the airport premises and stop the spread of the virus beyond it. The Hajj Terminal, not in use by passengers, has been suggested as an option for this purpose.

‘Centre not serious’

Addressing a press conference earlier in the day, Wahab said that although there was now a global pandemic, the federal government was still not serious about the situation. “It is the responsibility of the federal government to check all entry points to the country.”

Urging that the matter be taken seriously, he said that the Sindh government had been taking action since the first coronavirus patient was diagnosed in Karachi two weeks ago. He further said that scanning measures had been activated and deployed at land, air and sea routes.

Meanwhile, in Wednesday’s taskforce meeting, CM Shah also highlighted weaknesses in screening of passengers at the Karachi airport and the Taftan border, pointing out that a child who had been released from quarantine in Taftan was later confirmed as having the disease. “This shows that the screening system there is weak.”

The meeting decided that 850 travellers reaching Sukkur from Taftan would be tested. Shah added that he would arrange for an airplane to bring their samples from Sukkur to Karachi for testing.

He further urged the Sindh health department to make the best possible arrangements for screening travellers at the airport and also request the Balochistan government to strengthen its own arrangements.

Pechuho visits airport

On Wednesday morning, Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho visited Jinnah International airport to review screening arrangements and the operations of the health desk established these.

Briefing her about the preventive measures in place, airport authorities said that the travel histories of all passengers arriving from abroad were being scrutinised, adding that those who were ill were immediately shifted to hospitals.

The health department decided to deploy more health workers at the airport, and made arrangements to set up 25 cubicles for quarantines purposes outside the immigration section.

*Initial used to protect identity 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 12^th, 2020.