Coronavirus: Govt wants travellers from abroad to fill this form
Health minister Harsh Vardhan had earlier stressed on the need to fill the self-declaration form, saying it will help authorities in tackling coronavirus.
Union health minister Harsh Vardhan on Monday spoke about filling the self-declaration form at the airport, which will help authorities in tackling the coronavirus outbreak.
The ‘self reporting form’, is issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and asks for details about the flight number, the origin of the journey and a passenger’s final destination (in case he/she is staying in India for layover), apart from the regular details about the person’s name, address, mobile number, e-mail ID etc.
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Below this information, there is a set of questions specifically about China, where the coronavirus originated in December last year. The questions mentions on the form ask a passenger what all cities he/she visited in China, if Wuhan was one of them; if yes, the period of stay in Wuhan and did the passenger visit any seafood market.
Finally, the traveller has to declare if he/she is suffering from fever, cough or any other respiratory distress.
The advisory issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has made it mandatory for the passengers to furnish duly-filled self-declaration form to health officials and immigration officials, and undergo universal health screening at the designated health counters at all points of entry. “In addition to visa restrictions already in place, passengers travelling from/having visited Italy or Republic of Korea and desirous of entering India will need certificate of having tested negative for Covid-19 from the designated laboratories authorised by the health authorities of these countries,” the advisory further says.
Speaking to reporters after chairing a high-level meeting on coronavirus, Vardhan stressed on the need to voluntarily declare the travel history so that it becomes easier to check the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.
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“Voluntary declaration is for the well-being of everyone. All of us will benefit if people start filling out the form,” said Vardhan.
Four new cases of Covid-19 have been reported since Sunday - one each from Kerala, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Jammu.
According to official estimates, till Monday 43 samples have tested positive out of the 3,003 samples tested for COVID-19 with 2,694 samples having returned negative results. 177 of them have been hospitalised and 33,599 passengers are under observation. 21,867 passengers have completed their observation period.
