A group of 15 students from Kerala, who were stranded at Kunming airport in China following coronavirus outbreak, landed at Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) around 11 p.m. on Friday.
A communication said the group had been ferried by Air Asia via Bangkok. “Five sterilised ambulances and a team of doctors are arranged at the airport to transport them to Kochi Medical College isolation ward,” the communication, issued an hour ahead of their landing, said, adding that the decision to admit them or advise home-quarantine would be decided after examining them.
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Dr. S. Sreedevi, additional district medical officer, Ernakulam, said while there was still no clarity on the number of students or their health condition, the hospital was fully prepared to admit them. “We have 30 beds ready in the isolation ward with expert doctors and paramedics on duty. Once the students are at the hospital, we will screen them, collect their blood samples and throat swabs and see whether they need admission,” she said.
The protocol followed in the cases under observation and quarantine would be adhered to.
Meanwhile, reports suggested that the students had taken a bullet train from Wuhan in Hubei province, just before the place went into a total shut down, to reach Kunming in Yunnan in about six and a half hours time. While they initially thought of travelling to India via Singapore, they were denied permission to do so.
