Coronavirus: 406 from Wuhan start leaving ITBP facility in Delhi, but to stay isolated at home

NEW DELHI: The ordeal of the 406 evacuees from Wuhan is not completely over as yet. While all of them, quarantined at an ITBP facility in Delhi, tested negative for novel coronavirus and is being discharged in a phased manner starting Monday, they will be kept in home quarantine for another 14 days given the uncertainty about the incubation period of the virus, an official said.
“These people will be regularly monitored and their health parameters will be charted by state health agencies with the help of local health authorities and nearby hospitals to ensure there is no infection,” Dr A P Joshi, chief medical officer at Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) told TOI.
A batch of 200 people, including seven Maldivian nationals, who were among 406 quarantined at ITBP’s Chhawla Camp after being evacuated earlier this month from coronavirus-hit Wuhan, were discharged on Monday.
“The rest will be sent on Tuesday and in the subsequent days as per the travel plans of the inmates,” the official said.
Health minister Harsh Vardhan also visited the facility in Chhawla and interacted with the evacuees on Monday.
Vardhan briefed the evacuees about the steps taken by the government to combat the virus and the precautions to be taken in this context.
The minister also took a quick review of the measures taken over the last fortnight from the doctors supervising the campus. Vardhan also handed out the discharged evacuees a rose and a packet containing the annual ITBP calendar each as a token of remembrance.
The evacuees thanked the government, medical staff and ITBP personnel for ensuring proper food, hygiene, hot water, indoor games and entertainment at the facility for them.
A total of 650 people were brought back from Wuhan in China on February 1 and 2 in two 747 Boeing Air India aircraft after the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in China.
While 406 of these were sent to the ITBP facility, the rest were quarantined at an Army centre in Haryana's Manesar.