Six more thermal scanners at City Railway Station and Bus Stands soon

Mysore/Mysuru: Amid the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak that has gripped a large number of countries across the world, the Mysore Airport has ramped up safety measures and precautions to contain the deadly disease and has introduced thermal screening of all passengers from this morning.

Thermal screening is a process of detecting radiation. The amount of radiation emitted by an object increases with temperature; therefore, thermography allows one to see variations in temperature. If someone has a fever, thermal screening will allow detecting them and they can further be tested for coronavirus.

The virus, that has claimed over 3,000 lives and affected over 90,000 worldwide, does not have cure or any vaccine as of now. As medical experts continue trying to help patients recover, countries have started a strict screening method to avoid the further spread of the disease. 

At the Mysore Airport, the new hygiene protocol has been implemented from today where check-in staffs and Health Department officials are screening arriving and departing passengers for sniffles, runny noses, and coughs. A thermal scanner has been under use at the Airport and as per the requirement submitted by the Mysuru District Health Department, six more thermal scanners will arrive in a day or two and passengers at Railway Stations and Bus Stands will be screened. 

The scanners have been procured under National Urban Health Mission and it takes at least five minutes to screen a patient. District Health Officer (DHO) Dr. R. Venkatesh told Star of Mysore that the Health Department personnel will screen every passenger arriving and departing the Airport and suspected virus cases will be whisked away to isolation wards set up at K.R. Hospital.

“The screening will continue till the scare is completely eliminated and the samples collected from suspect cases will be sent to laboratories for tests. Such patients will be treated in isolation wards till the test results come and only when the results are tested negative, they will be allowed to move to their homes. There too, they will be under observation,” the DHO said.

Protective gears like surgical masks and gloves are being provided to crew members and passengers. There are multiple hand sanitising points at the Airport terminal. Boarding of passengers for each flight will begin only after thermal scanning clearance is completed.

As per the guidelines issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, in case any passenger is suspected to be infected, an end-to-end disinfection process must be carried out on that plane.