Priority is to bring back the 200 Indian students from Wuhan

Safety check: A student who arrived from China on his way to the Patna Medical College and Hospital for a checkup | PTI

What measures are being taken for the impending evacuation of the Indian students stranded in Wuhan?

Students who will be brought back from China will be put in an isolated facility. We have identified some defence, ITBP and labour ministry facilities near Delhi so that we can manage them better. The numbers will be confirmed by the ministry of external affairs.... But our priority is to get our students from Wuhan, about 200 of them. The matter of the safety of the immigration officials [who will be part of the evacuation process] has been discussed, and they will need to wear all the protective gear. Anyway, those who have already acquired the infection will not be allowed to leave China; only asymptomatic persons are being allowed to leave. We have also issued an advisory against travelling to China.

How are we ramping up our preparedness, with respect to testing, guiding states and thermal screening at airports?

We are equipped with enough testing kits. The department of health research (DHR) is looking after this aspect. We had kits for about 5,000 tests when we began initially, and I am sure that the DHR is expanding that requirement for the diagnostic tests. As of now, we have tested 28 people, and all the tests have been reported negative. Another 11 are under process. States have also been issued guidelines on clinical management of severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) in suspect or confirmed novel coronavirus (nCoV) cases. Guidelines containing information on early recognition of patients with SARI associated with nCoV infection, clinical syndromes associated with nCoV infection, immediate implementation of appropriate integrated patient care and other important information on managing the disease have been uploaded on our website. Those returning from China are being kept under observation for 28 days. [Officials, however, declined to give the exact number of people being kept under observation]. An additional 100 thermal sensors have been procured from local manufacturers to ramp up the screening efforts at our airports. Besides the National Institute of Virology, Pune, four other diagnostic laboratories [of Indian Council of Medical Research’s viral research and diagnostics laboratory network] have been activated [at Alappuzha, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai] for testing samples.

Besides, every hour, we are sending out authentic information through our social media accounts and Doordarshan.

Preeti Sudan | Aayush Goel

What is the status of the suspected cases in Delhi?

Of the three who were suspected, one has been found to be infected with H1N1 [influenza virus, also known as swine flu]. The results for the other two suspects are awaited. Some suspects have also been confirmed with rhinovirus [most common cause of common cold]. It is also the season for cold and flu [so, these cases are showing up].

What about our API (active pharmaceutical ingredient) imports from China?

As of now, we have no reports of any shortages of medicine owing to API imports from China being affected. Department of pharmaceuticals is actually doing a lot now to have APIs manufactured in India. Of course, that will take time. That said, this incident is a wake-up call [for them], is it not?

What about vaccine development?

Research is ongoing. However, it is too early [to say anything on that front].