As it locks down the State till March 31, the Telangana Government issued an Order on Sunday night directing the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) to form teams to track down those who have returned from abroad after March 1.

“There is a potential threat of persons (who have arrived from abroad) to transit the novel coronavirus. There is an immediate need to trace, track and enforce home quarantine,” Arvind Kumar, Principal Secretary to the Government, said in the Government Order (GO).

The special teams, which would comprise staffers from the Health Department, GHMC, and police departments, will identify the people in question, shift those with symptoms to isolation centres, collect samples and send them for testing.

All of them will be located, stamped and asked to stay home for 14 days. The teams will alert the neighbours and local self-help groups (SHGs) to keep them informed.

The GO asked the GHMC to collate the information, submit it to the government and work with the State Rapid Response Team (SRRT) to devise strategies to contain the spread of the virus.

It is estimated that about 20,000 people have returned from abroad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here. The number could be much more if people landed at airports in Bengaluru, Chennai and Mumbai and drove down to the State via road.

Though there will be no fresh arrivals now as all international flights have been barred from entering the country, the State has decided to pin down those who arrived earlier, particularly after March 1.

As many as 11,000 such passengers have been identified and kept under home quarantine and isolation, wherever needed.

The Government has also launched a State-wide survey to identify those returned from abroad after March 1.

Tags: Hyderabad, Telangana, COVID-19, novel coronavirus, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), quarantine, isolation

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