Passengers arriving from Italy to undergo 14-day quarantine

Weeks after the Health Ministry ordered all passengers arriving from China and South Korea to undergo a 14-day quarantine period following the outbreak of COVID-19, passengers arriving from Italy will also undergo 14-day isolation, officials from the Health Ministry told Daily Mirror yesterday.

Chief Epidemiologist Dr. Sudath Samaraweera said details of all passengers arriving from Italy would be sent to the Health Ministry which would share the information with public health officers for them to follow up on the passengers.

"We will ask them to stay at home for two weeks and PHIs will follow up with them to check if they suffer from any symptom. Some countries such as Iran that faced the outbreak of the virus were being monitored closely. A decision will be taken to quarantine passengers if the situation aggravates,” Dr. Samaraweera said.

As the death toll from COVID-19 surpassed the 3,000 mark globally yesterday, Dr. Samaraweera said passengers arriving at BIA were being medically checked and those arriving from affected cities were being advised to visit a hospital to undergo a thorough examination.

All passengers have been instructed to fill health declaration forms upon their arrival and those who have visited any affected country in recent weeks will be closely monitored.

According to the Health Ministry, till last evening, 18 suspected patients had been warded at hospitals countrywide and four out of them had been foreigners. (Jamila Husain)