Coronavirus: Indian Army Builds A Quarantine Facility To Monitor 300 Students Returning From Wuhan

In order to protect the health safety of the society, the Indian Army has recently created a compound in Manesar to strictly keep in check a potential coronavirus outbreak amid the retreat of nearly 300 Indian students, who are set to come back from Wuhan, China.

According to some army sources, all these students will get quarantined in the said facility for medical purposes. A team of qualified doctors and other staff members are responsible for monitoring the overall health of them, especially any signs of coronavirus infection, for a duration of at least two weeks.

Frankly speaking, the procedure includes two basic stages: Screening at the airport and sending students to the quarantine facility in Manesar. In case an individual is suspected to be coronavirus-infected, he/she will be isolated and get cured at the Base Hospital Delhi Cantonment (BHDC).

Regarding the screening stage, the Armed Forces Medical Services will be in collaboration with Airport Health Authority at the airport. During this process, they’ll classify the students into three categories, including (a) Suspect cases, (b) Close contact, and (c) Non-contact cases.

(a) Suspect cases: Those who have any signs of coronavirus infection like fever, cough, respiratory distress, etc. Individuals with such symptoms will be directly shifted to the BHDC in a timely manner.

(b) Close contact: Individuals who have visited a highly-infectious area like health facility in China, seafood/animal market, etc… or were close to any Chinese having symptoms similar to (a) will be escorted to the Manesar facility.

(c) Non-contact cases: Individuals arriving from Wuhan without both (a) and (b) identification will also be grouped along with (b).

Besides a bunch of accommodation barracks for students mentioned above, there’re also specific areas for administrators and medical staff members. In particular, the facility consists of specific sectors with a maximum capacity of 50 people per one. Each barrack will be sub-divided into smaller barracks, too. As such, the distribution based on their health status will eliminate the intermingling between groups.

Medical examinations will be done on a daily basis. All the members in the staff team regardless of whether he/she is a health care worker or not must wear a full protection suit called personal protective equipment (PPE) whenever they work. Basically, a PPE offers mask, gloves, gown, shoe cover, and eye shield. In the meantime, the students have to carry a three-layer mask all the time.

As reported, no one will be allowed to go outside if there’s no extreme emergency situation.