Trichy hotels told to screen tourists with infrared gun

Trichy: In the wake of Covid-19 threat, food safety and drug administration department has advised major hotels in the city to conduct thermometer gun screening on foreign tourists. It is also planning to put up posters displaying the methods of hand washing in all the restaurants. 

Designated officer of food safety and drug administration department Dr R Chithra said advisories have been issued to more than 10 hotels in the city to keep infrared gun for checking the temperature of foreign tourists staying in their hotels. “The practice has been advised for the past one week and all hotels are complying with our instruction. It can be checked by anyone with the gun. In case of escalation of temperature, they should inform the public health department and health officials will conduct proper examination of the person as per protocol,” Dr Chithra told TOI.

She said they have not received any communication from the hotels on any symptomatic patients. The department has also turned its focus on restaurants in the district and prepared a pamphlet with pictorial explanation of hand washing. The restaurants will be asked to display it in full view of customers. Trichy City Corporation had already advised all restaurants to keep either hand washing liquid or soap near the wash room for customers to maintain hand hygiene. 

Trichy being a connecting point to several districts because of the presence of international airport with flights to Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Dubai and Sharjah, inbound passengers from foreign countries are being screened from January 28. All passengers have been put through mandatory screening by the team of doctors of public health department and medical officers of the Airports Authority of India. A public health department official said that about 35,000 passengers were screened at Trichy airport till Monday. Of them, about 1,200 passengers had symptoms of fever and cough. Since they were residents of other districts, the public health department of these districts were intimated about their arrival for necessary follow-up for quarantine.

In Trichy district, public health department officials have been monitoring 56 passengers as on Monday. Several passengers who were home-quarantined and tested have recovered during the quarantine period. At the isolation ward in Mahatma Gandhi memorial government hospital (MGMGH), a 35-year-old man who had a travel history for Haj has been admitted following a referral from a private hospital with symptoms like cough and fever. The doctors said he was not showing any symptoms of Covid-19.