AIZAWL, Jan 31 - Mizoram will start thermal screening of passengers at the State�s lone airport and the entry points on the international border, mainly with Myanmar.
Dr Pachuau Lalmalsawma, epidemiologist and State nodal officer for Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme, said that a meeting of the officials of the Health Department, Home Department, General Administration Department and the Aviation Wing, held under the chairmanship of Health Minister Dr R Lalthangliana, on Thursday decided to conduct screening as per the advisory from the National Centre for Disease Control, Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
Apart from the airport, screening will also be conducted at the entry points on the international border. Mizoram shares a long and porous border with Myanmar where border trade is actively carried out.
The health official said that so far no case of coronavirus has been detected in Mizoram, but he did not rule out the high chances of the border State getting infected as a lot of people from Mizoram regularly travel to China and Hong Kong.
It may be mentioned here that a lot of the garments sold at the markets in Aizawl are imported from China and Hong Kong. The retailers visit China on a regular basis to bring garments.
Our Gangtok Correspondent adds: The Sikkim Government has put a temporary ban on import of yarn and wool from Ludhiana and Guwahati to check coronavirus infection in the State.
The order, issued by the Rural Management Department, states that this precautionary step has been taken as the yarn and wool may have been imported from China.
Our Shillong Staff Correspondent adds: The Meghalaya Government has instructed people coming to the State from countries affected by coronavirus outbreak, especially students studying in China, to notify the GVK 108 within 24 hours of entering the State so that they could be screened for the deadly virus.
�In view of the increased incidence of nCoV (coronavirus) cases in China and other affected countries, there is likelihood that students studying there would be returning in the near future,� the advisory said.
It added that not only the students, but also their parents and travellers to and from China and other affected countries should notify the Meghalaya GVK EMRI helpline number 108 within 24 hours so that �precautionary measures could be taken�.
The advisory further states that all those returning from China and other affected countries �give self-declaration of their travel and exposure in the protocol which would either be read out or provided to them when they arrive at Guwahati and Umroi airports�.
