The Indian Port authorities have decided not to allow disembarkation of the crew of ships hailing mainly from China, Hong Kong, Macau and other eastern countries like Thailand and Singapore at all Indian ports, in order to avoid the deadly epidemic of coronavirus.
As per reports, the health officer of Chennai port, S Senthilnathan said, “Disembarkation of the crew of ships from China, Hong Kong, Macau, Thailand, and Singapore are not allowed in order to avoid any risk of coronavirus spreading here. This condition is applicable in all the Indian ports”.
He also said that the authorities are collecting pre-arrival health data, and the health data of the crew joining midway will also be collected. The ships will be allowed to berth but the crew will not be allowed to disembark regardless of their nationality and will not be allowed to dump their garbage, he added.
Senthilnathan said the major focus is the ships coming from Chinese ports with or without Chinese crew, ships that didn’t come from a Chinese port but have Chinse crew, and with one or more non-Chinese crew who had boarded the ship at a Chinese port. Once the ship is found to be coming from China, the health condition of the crew will be monitored continuously.
Earlier he said that an average of 20 cargo ships reaches Indian ports of Chennai and Kamrajar. Each ship has an average of 25 crew members, which means a total of 400 crew members reach Indian ports per month.
The panic of deadly coronavirus is increasing as the number of the infected population by the virus is accelerating. More than 30000 of human life is in danger only in the Wuhan province of China where the coronavirus epidemic first broke out. The World Health Organization issued guidelines earlier this year educating to avoid the spread of Coronavirus.
The Indian authorities have already evacuated many of their own students and citizens living in Wuhan. There were three cases of confirmed cases of coronavirus reported, of whom the first patient is recovered and is quarantined.
