11 tourists from Myanmar isolated at Safdarjung Hospital test negative for Covid, being discharged

New Delhi, Dec 28 (PTI) Eleven tourists from Myanmar, isolated at the Safdarjung Hospital earlier this week after one of them tested Covid positive at the IGI Airport here, have turned out to be negative and are being discharged, officials said on Wednesday.

“A group of 11 tourists from Maynmar was brought to the hospital from the airport on Sunday. They were kept in the isolation ward. Now, all of them have tested negative and are being discharged,” a senior doctor said.

Samples taken from the person who tested positive at the airport have been sent for genome sequencing, the doctor said.

The government has made random coronavirus testing mandatory for two per cent of passengers arriving in each international flight from Saturday amid a surge in coronavirus cases in some countries, including China.

With the ordeal faced by the country during the second COVID-19 wave in April 2021 still fresh in the minds, the Centre had last week told states and Union territories to reinvigorate oxygen control rooms for prompt resolutions of oxygen-related challenges.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya Saturday said RT-PCR test would be made mandatory for passengers from China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand and that passengers arriving in India from these countries will be quarantined if found COVID-19 positive or with fever.

On Monday, officials physically visited all government hospitals in Delhi to assess their readiness to deal with any eventuality and prepare an inventory of beds, liquid medical oxygen, ventilators and other equipment.

Real-time data related to the availability of beds and ventilators is now available for the public on the Delhi government’s Corona portal.

On Tuesday, mock drills were held at health facilities across Delhi to check operational readiness to deal with any spurt in COVID-19 infection.