New Delhi, Mar 8 (IANS): To counter the spread of coronavirus infection, passengers from 12 countries with high number of infectious cases will be segregated from other passengers till the conveyor belt areas at airports.
The move is part of the strategy by India to prevent the spread of coronavirus, as the number of confirmed cases in the country mounted to 34 on Saturday.
The Airport Authority of India (AAI) is putting in place a plan to segregate passengers from 12 countries at international airports. Passengers arriving from countries with high number of cases such as China, South Korea, Japan, Italy, Iran, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Nepal and Indonesia would be segregated from other passengers.
The passengers from the 12 countries would not be allowed to mix with other passengers during "health screening, immigration and conveyer belt areas".
Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola, along with AAI Chairman Arvind Singh, DGCA chief Arun Kumar and others, reviewed the status of screening activities done at different airports on Saturday. It was suggested that sufficient arrangements will be made across all international airports.
"Universal screening of passengers, disinfecting of aircraft and airport terminal & safety of ground staff and security personnel to be ensured," AAI said in a tweet.
Currently, screening of passengers coming from all parts of the world is being carried out at 30 airports.