Over 37,000 passengers scanned at Ahmedabad for swine flu

Ahmedabad: With three more cases reported in the country on Sunday, swine flu scare seems to be looming large. Taking the present situation into account, over 37,000 passengers coming from abroad have been scanned for H1N1 virus at the Ahmedabad airport. And, there have been no suspected cases from Gujarat so far.
In India, 23 cases of swine flu have been reported so far. Thus, the surveillance has been stepped up at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport with over 800-odd passengers arriving from abroad in city daily. The officials at the airport have scanned 37,191 passengers so far at the international terminal of the airport.
Moreover, five international flights from Frankfurt, Newark, London, Dubai and Doha, many carrying passengers from the US, land here between 2 am and 5 am. Only one flight from London arrives during the day.
Thus, six check up counters have been set up at the airport to scan passengers arriving at night. The officials said that a team of seven doctors headed by a senior officer from the health and family welfare department are posted during night hours. During the day time, there are two doctors present at the airport to check passengers coming from London.
Deputy director (epidemic) in-charge of this operation at the airport, Dr Suresh Gandhi, said, "Each and every passenger coming entering the state goes through proper check up. So far we have not found any suspected case." He added that the experts deployed at the airport are trained to detect swine flu cases and collect samples at national level.
16/06/09 Times of India

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Categories: Airports Jun 2009, Foreign Jun 2009