All 236 evacuees from China, Japan test negative for virus

NEWDELHI: All 236 recent evacuees, brought back from the Chinese city of Wuhan, who have been under quarantine at the Indo-Tibetan Border Police -run Chhawla camp in the outskirts of Delhi since Thursday morning and from Japan , who were quarantined on board Diamond Princess cruise ship and kept at Indian Army-run facility in Haryana’s Manesar, have tested negative for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

“The coronavirus disease test reports of 112 evacuees housed at the ITBP Chhawla facility have been found negative The evacuees include 36 foreigners,” an ITBP spokesperson said on Saturday.

The first round of sample collection to test for COVID-19 took place on Friday, and the swabs were sent to New Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). Those under isolation include 76 Indians, and 36 foreign nationals including eight families and five children.

The foreigners in isolation belong to Bangladesh (23), China (6), Myanmar (2), Maldives (2), Madagascar (1), South Africa (1) and the United States (1).

The medical staff of ITBP are conducting daily checkups, but so far none of the evacuees has shown any symptoms related to COVID-19 infection.

› The coronavirus disease test reports of 112 evacuees housed at the ITBP Chhawla facility have been found negative. ITBP SPOKESPERSON

The quarantine period is for at least 14 days, and the second sample will be collected on the 14th day of the duration.

“If the second sample results also return negative, then all 112 persons will be released from the Centre,”ITBP said in a statement.

Emergency arrangements have also been made at the facility, such as isolation beds and ambulances to move people who may develop COVID-19 symptoms to a hospital.

The samples of another set of 124 evacuees (119 Indian and five foreign nationals), brought back in another flight from Japan on Wednesday, where these people had been quarantined on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship off Yokohama after cases of COVID-19 surfaced on the liner, have also tested negative. The five foreigners retrieved from the ship belong to Nepal (1), Sri Lanka (2), Peru (1), and South Africa (1).