ISLAMABAD: Health authorities have placed Pakistan on full alert in a bid to prevent the killer Chinese coronavirus spreading to the country.
Although no cases of the deadly virus, which emerged in Wuhan, China, had yet been reported in Pakistan, officials were taking no chances and ordered the screening of travelers at air, land and sea entry points.
Globally, there are more than 500 confirmed cases of the infection, which has so far killed at least two dozen people and has begun spreading abroad.
The Pakistani Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination has issued an order for the highest level of vigilance and necessary preventive measures amid the outbreak.
Passengers entering Pakistan through its four major airports in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar are to be screened for the virus and monitoring will take place at seaports and on the Pakistan-China border, National Institute of Health (NIH) executive director, Maj. Gen. Dr. Aamer Ikram, told Arab News on Friday.
The contagious virus, which has reportedly already reached southeast Asia, the Middle East, the Far East and North America, has striking similarities to SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) which killed hundreds of people in China during an outbreak in 2002 and 2003.
Ikram said: “The major threat we see (of the virus entering Pakistan) is from the airports because around 40 flights come from China and the surrounding region. China has taken an aggressive stand on the matter by restricting flights, which is a good move because this reduces the chance of spreading the virus.”
The number of travelers to and from China has increased since the 2013 launch of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which comprises multi-billion-dollar infrastructure development projects.
Thousands of Chinese workers have arrived in Pakistan under the CPEC initiative, and although there has been no indication that extra health-screening measures had been taken, Ikram pointed out that China had been sharing health-related information with Pakistan.
With no known cure for the coronavirus, the NIH has focused all its efforts on prevention. For the past six weeks, Ikram said, the institute had been training staff at entry points, from Gwadar Port in southern Balochistan province to the border crossing in Torkham, in northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Personnel at checkpoints and airports have been equipped with health surveillance and thermal scanning equipment, he added.
Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has introduced new screening measures for all incoming passengers from China, who are required to undergo thermal body scans and checks by a doctor and two paramedics for symptoms of the virus.
Quarantine rooms have also been set up at the airports in accordance with international standards, the CAA said in a statement on Friday.
Passengers embarking on Pakistan International Airlines flights from Beijing are also being screened before departure to Pakistan.
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