Sindh demands quarantine facility at Karachi Airport

KARACHI: The Sindh Government requested the concerned authorities of the Federal Government to establish a quarantine facility at the Jinnah International Airport Karachi to control the spread of the coronavirus.

Provincial Minister for Health, Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, requested the Minister for Interior, Ijaz Ahmed Shah, the Federal Minister for Aviation Division, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, and the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health, Dr Zafar Mirza, to establish a quarantine facility at the Karachi Airport after multiple cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) were confirmed in Pakistan.

She stated that recently, around 14 cases of COVID-19 were identified in Karachi, and all of them arrived in Sindh through the Jinnah International Airport Karachi.

In a meeting held under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister Sindh, the Sindh Government decided to coordinate with the Federal Government for the establishment of a quarantine facility within the premises of the Karachi Airport identified by the Manager Karachi Airport. This move will help reduce the spread of the virus.

Legally under the constitution (schedule-IV), the responsibility for port quarantine and airports lies with the Federal Government. In this context, the Health Department, Government of Sindh, had decided to coordinate with the Federal Government to ensure that none of the passengers, who are symptomatic with flu, cough, body pain, fever, and shortness of breath, enter the province without screening and testing.

It was requested that the necessary directions are communicated to the concerned quarters for the establishment for the quarantine facility within the premises of Jinnah International Airport Karachi, so that health screening desks which are established at the airport by the Health Department Sindh with the support of the Federal Government, may immediately refer the suspect cases to the quarantine facility within the airport premises for further screening and testing.

In the case of negative test results, the passenger will be advised for home quarantine for 14 days and will be given a set of guidelines to follow. However, in the case of positive test results for COVID-19, the passenger will be transferred to a nearby isolation ward established by the Sindh Health Department.

The Sindh Government is ready to support by all means to contain the highly infective COVID-19 from further spread.

-MN Report