Monday, July 29, 2013

India: Health dept. steps up fever to watch for H1N1 and SARS to avian influenza & dengue

[This article states they are keeping track of cases of fever on a daily basis, but are not screening them...yet.  I'm also not sure if they mean "Chennai" or India as a whole when they say "we" are collecting information.]
hat-tip @ makoto_au_japon


Chennai - In the light of Saudi Arabia and a few other countries reporting cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), the Health Department here is keeping track of cases of fever on a daily basis. However, officials said they had not received any formal communication regarding the institution of screening procedures. 

“So far, there has been no formal alert or advisory on checks at ports and airports. WHO has stated that there is no condition of public health emergency,” official sources said. Alerts, an official said, came from three sources – Centre for Disease Control, Atlanta, WHO and National Centre for Disease Control, New Delhi.

“We are however collecting information on cases of fever every day. From H1N1 and SARS to avian influenza and dengue, we are covering all kinds of cases in our surveillance mechanism. We are collecting daily reports from all major government and private hospitals,” he said.
-snip-
Over 4,000 pilgrims will leave for Mecca in September from the State. Officials of Airports Authority of India (AAI) said that there has been no screening of passengers in the airport as yet. “A few years ago, during the SARS virus scare, all passengers were subject to an automatic screening system. If a passenger whose body temperature was high passed through the device, the system would beep. He would then be taken to the doctor for examination. But in this case, we have not begun screening the passengers,” said an AAI official.

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