Three passengers, who arrived at Kolkata international airport from Bangkok, have been placed in isolation for suspected coronavirus. (Representational Image)
Three passengers, who arrived at Kolkata international airport from Bangkok, have been placed in isolation for suspected coronavirus, Airport officials said on Thursday.
A passenger named Himadri Barman was quarantined on Tuesday, and Nagendra Singh on Wednesday, government officials said in New Delhi. Earlier, a passenger named Anita Oraon had also showed signs of fever during thermal scanning, Kolkata airport director Kaushik Bhattacharjee said. All the three passengers were sent to Beliaghata ID Hospital as suspect case, a Kolkata airport official said.
“The media reports mentioning about coronavirus positive cases detected at NSCBI Airport of Kolkata is totally wrong and baseless. Three passengers travelling through Kolkata Airport were referred to ID Hospital, Beliaghata as suspect cases. Till date, 21,792 passengers have been screened at the airport,” a Kolkata airport official said.
The state Health and Family Welfare Department also said that nobody in the state has tested positive for coronavirus. “The Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of West Bengal hereby informs the general public that no one in West Bengal has tested positive (for the virus) till date,” state Health Secretary Vivek Kumar said.
Already two airlines, which had direct flights between Kolkata and China, have suspended their flights. Low-cost carrier IndiGo has temporarily suspended its flights between Kolkata and Guangzhou from February 6.
“In line with the WHO guideline to contain the spread of coronavirus, IndiGo will be suspending its Kolkata-Guangzhou service from February 6, 2020 to February 25, 2020 and Guangzhou-Kolkata from February 7 till February 26,” the airline had said in a statement.
After IndiGo, China Eastern Airlines suspended its flights between Kolkata and Kunming in China from February 10 to February 29.
Passengers of flights coming to Kolkata from Kunming and Guangzhou in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok were being screened since January 17.
At present, passengers arriving from Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok are being screened as no flights are operating to and from China.