india

Updated: Feb 08, 2020 12:44 IST

The Uttarakhand government has decided to set up two emergency makeshift hospitals dedicated to tackle a possible outbreak of coronavirus following the return to 273 people from China, officials said.

Another reason for setting up the two hospitals is the fear that state’s proximity to China and Nepal could possibly lead to an outbreak.

Yugal Kishor Pant, additional secretary health said that the state government has been screening passengers at Dehradun airport as well as checkpoints along the Nepal border to screen people coming into the state from there.

“Apart from screening people at aforementioned places, we would soon set up dedicated hospitals in both Garhwal and Kumaon region to treat patients in case of a coronavirus outbreak in the state. In Garhwal, it would be in Haridwar while in Kumaon it would be in Haldwani town of Nainital district,” Pant said.

He said the process of establishing the hospitals are in last stage and would soon be completed in the coming few days. He did not say how many days it would take to set up the two hospitals.

He also added that in January, a total 273 people came from China to Uttarakhand. “We have details of all those people and have kept them in home isolation and are being monitored constantly,” said Pant.

Pankaj Pandey, secretary, state health department, while speaking on the preparations said, “The department has already established isolation wards in existing hospitals to treat any patients of the deadly virus. However, fortunately, there is no positive case in the state so far.”

“We are in constantly in touch with the Centre on the issue and are on alert,” he said.

India has so far reported three positive cases of coronavirus, all of them from Kerala. One positive case of Coronavirus turned negative four days later on Friday.

Last week, the Centre evacuated over 6 00 Indian citizens from Wuhan in a two-day air lift. All the evacuees are now at two quarantine facilities in Delhi and Maneswar in Haryana.