With two more samples sent from Hyderabad turning swine flu positive, the Andhra Pradesh government is keen to push the case further to involve the Centre for containing the danger.
The number of influenza cases in Hyderabad has gone up to seven. The two fresh cases are also from British Airways flight BA 277, which had brought three passengers to the city with the infection. The state government is worried that all those infected had come to Hyderabad from the US and the authorities there had let them board the flight unchecked. “There is no exit screening at any airport abroad. We want the Centre to write to countries with the infection to screen passengers when boarding flights and stop them till they are cured,” state health secretary LV Subrahmanyam said.
The state plans to approach the ministry of civil aviation to advise international airlines to keep an eye on passengers from troubled countries and take precautionary measures. “Passengers with symptoms have to be given masks and medication,” he said.
Officials in Hyderabad screened 95,000 people since the infection broke out, and 37 samples were sent to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) in Delhi. Of these, seven were found positive while the authorities await results on two samples. On Sunday, officials sent five samples to Delhi.
Sending samples is also becoming a major logistics exercise. Sample collection timings are being matched with flight timings as the samples have be collected according to a laid-out procedure and sent at about -20 degrees temperature. Once they despatch a sample, the authorities inform NICD officials to collect it. It takes about 18 hours for results basically due to delays related to flight timings.
“We want an NICD team stationed in Hyderabad for better co-ordination and to liaise with their counterparts in Delhi. We want to cut down testing time to 10 hours so that we can start treatment at the earliest and track down co-passengers,” Subrahmanyam explained. Chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy spoke to civil aviation ministry officials, to keep personal protection equipment like masks ready on board international flights, for distribution to passengers with flu symptoms.
The authorities are worried about dropping temperatures in Hyderabad due to the onset of monsoon, which may cause a spread of the virus if the infection is not detected on time.
