Domestic passengers to be screened at Vizag international airport

Visakhapatnam: A medical team led by a senior medical officer has been deployed at the Visakhapatnam International Airport since Tuesday night to check the passengers flying in from Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad.

“We have asked the medical personnel to check tickets of passengers to ensure they did not fly in from England or any other European country. There is a possibility that some arriving from England might have missed the screening test at the port of landing in India,’’ said OSD on Covid-19 for north Andhra and principal of Andhra Medical College Dr P.V. Sudhakar.

Talking to this correspondent here on Wednesday, Dr Sudhakar said suspected persons would have to undergo RT-PCR test and by genome mapping the new strain could be found. Apart from Vizag, Rajahmundry, Vijayawada and Tirupati airports have also been put on alert.

Health experts said two months travel history must be checked of those who arrived from England and Europe. They said SOPs from Union health ministry has been received and they have been waiting for the SOPs from the State government to act in case of discovery of a new strain in the state.