Coronavirus: Mumbai PHO to screen cargo ships

NEW DELHI: Mumbai’s Port Health Organisation (PHO) has decided to screen cargo vessels coming from coronavirus-affected countries. The vessels will be declared “healthy” or “suspect” after screening for Covid-19 infection, as per a notice issued by the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) on Monday. Vessels coming from 12 countries affected by Covid-19 — which include China, Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Iran, Nepal and Italy — will be screened from now on.
“The port health officers will give them heath clearance. The vessel will be regarded infected if a crew member or cruise passengers show any symptoms,” a government official said.

In February, the government had directed all 12 major ports to put in place screening, detection and quarantine system for disembarking seafarers and cruise passengers as a preventive measure to check the spread of Covid-19 infection.

Directions were also issued to ports to procure N-95 masks as well as thermal scanners to screen passengers.