Mumbai: The state health department has urged citizens and travellers to not self-medicate if they are suffering from fever, cough and cold. Citizens are also asked not to believe in the bogus claims and misinformation about the disease on social media.
The symptoms coronavirus include fever, cough and breathlessness. For those with a weakened immune system, the elderly and the very young, there's a chance the virus could cause a lower, and much more serious, respiratory tract illness like pneumonia or bronchitis.
There are currently no vaccines available to protect people against the coronavirus infection or treatments for illnesses caused by it.
Dr Pradeep Awate, state surveillance officer with the state health department said, at airports, officers from Airport Health Organization (AHO) are scanning travellers with thermal scanners to identify people with high fever. But it has been learned that travellers with similar symptoms like cold and fever are taking suppressants to avoid getting detected by thermal scanners at airports.
“Passengers often don’t reveal if they have fever or don’t realise it. So, through these thermal scanners, we are trying to identify those suspected people. But if they consume suppressants, they do not get detected in the scanner. By doing this, they are not only putting themselves at risk but also the people around him,” said Dr Awate.
