Coronavirus scare: Ship with Chinese crew ‘isolated’ at Kidderpore

TNN | Updated: Feb 14, 2020, 10:20 IST

(Left) A medical officer scans a crew member on the vessel; the ship being berthed in isolation on Thursday

KOLKATA: A Panama-flag vessel with a 19-member Chinese crew that reached the Kidderpore docks on Thursday was berthed in isolation.
The crew of the ship has been asked not to be allowed shore leave till they are cleared by a medical team.

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For Kolkata and Bengal, it is still only alarm; there is not a single person afflicted buy this virus as yet. But things may change with even a small number being infected. So it is essential to carry on with all the precautions for at least some time.

Earlier, a medical team led by Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port Trust (SPMPT)’s chief medical officer Mukund Kelkar had boarded the 120-metre-long MV Genius Star VII while it was anchored mid-sea near the Sagar anchorage and cleared the vessel to proceed towards Kolkata. The crew will be examined again on Friday.
According to NSCBI Airport sources, 21,792 passengers have been scanned. Airport director Kaushik Bhattacharjee said no fresh cases were reported to the state health facility on Thursday.
The state-run ID & BG Hospital in the city admitted three COVID-19 suspects to the isolation ward on Thursday.
The swab samples of the three patients with a travel history to China were sent to ICMR-NICED, Kolkata, for confirmation. The Bengal government in a statement said that no one in the state has tested positive for the infection till date.

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