India To Screen Chinese Travelers For Wuhan Mystery Virus At Mumbai Airport

As the mysterious China virus that killed at least two people in Wuhan reached Japan and Thailand, India has decided to start screening Chinese passengers arriving on direct or connecting flights from the country. Air travellers arriving from China will be subjected to undergo thermal screening as a preventive measure following the outbreak, Mumbai airport authorities said on Saturday.

"All passengers travelling from China to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA), will have to undergo a thermal screening as a matter of precaution," Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) said.

The MIAL said it has now expanded its existing passenger safety measures in compliance with the latest directive given by the World Health Organization (WHO) in case if any traveller is detected with the symptoms of the infection, believed to be a new Coronavirus.

The concerned passenger will be immediately shifted to the isolation hospital earmarked for CSMIA on advice of the APHO team, the aerodrome operator said, adding it will share a daily report with the ministry on the scanning of passengers.

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"As reported by the Chinese authorities, this is a new type of coronavirus and is different from all other human coronaviruses. The World Health Organization has reported symptoms such as fever, difficulty in breathing and chest radiographs showing bilateral lung infiltrates as the cause of the pneumonia," MIAL said in a press release.

What Is The Chinese Mystery Virus?

The World Health Organization have concluded the infection is a coronavirus, which is a broad family of viruses. So far, only six coronaviruses are known to infect people. The latest virus makes it the seventh one to have infected humans.

The symptoms of this new virus rang from common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). A Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome had killed 774 people in China in 2002. According to some analysis of the genetic code, the new virus is closely related to SARS.

The Chinese government has said that there are 50 confirmed cases of the infection and two people have died. However, disease outbreak scientists from UK estimate nearly 1700 people might be infected from the virus. The new estimate has come after two cases of the outbreak, which started in central Chinese city of Wuhan, were confirmed in Thailand and in Japan.