Daijiworld Media Network- Mumbai (AJD)

Mumbai, Feb 8: As corona virus fear spreads crew, passengers of Chinese ships have been barred by Mumbai Port Trust. As a preventive measure this action has been taken. Port Trust has restricted entry of crew and passengers of vessels arriving from China or specific southeast Asian countries.

A senior official of Mumbai port trust said, "The Government of India has taken it very seriously. If any ship with Chinese crew members or passengers arrives here, then our public health officer goes to the ship and conducts the health check-ups of all members on board. We have stopped their excursion; they are not allowed to enter into the city."

The notice read: For all vessels coming from China, with Chinese crew, no shore permit shall be issued to the crew. Non-Chinese crew will be screened for symptoms and shore permit will be issue to those who do not show any symptoms of sickness.

GOI guidelines says: For crew members who have visited China, in the last one month, no shore excursions will be allowed.

The death toll due to the novel coronavirus outbreak in China has reached 722, authorities said on Saturday, while the number of confirmed cases also rose to 34,546.

The Chinese officials say 3,45,498 close contacts had been traced, adding that among them, 26,702 were discharged from medical observation Friday, with 189,660 others still under medical observation.