New Delhi: Over 350 male students who arrived from Wuhan and Yichang cities of China’s Hubei province between February 2 and February 4 and were housed at a quarantine facility for the 2019 novel coronavirus (nCov) in Manesar, have complained that the facility resembles a dormitory-style barracks and that it has limited access to toilets and water supply, according to a The Hindu Businessline.
“I have not bathed for 36 hours. There is little water for flushing and limited hot water supplies for bathing,” said Prabhakar, a final year student of medicine from Yinchang who arrived at the facility on Sunday, said.” There are only 10 toilets for close to 350 of us and most are in unhygienic conditions.”
At the same time, health ministry advisories have repeatedly stressed the importance of personal hygiene in combating the spread of the virus.
Over 24,000 people have tested positive for the virus around the world – predominantly in China – while in India, three people from Kerala have tested positive thus far.
Adding to the students, hot water is only available at the facility between 6:30 am and 7:30 am. “The primary requirement to prevent and manage the virus is to have access to hot water. Because of lack of closed enclosures to bathe, at times students have to bathe outside in the cold,” Prabhakar said. He added that the presence of close to 20 stray dogs in the camp was another health threat for the students since dogs are more vulnerable to infections than humans.
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Students then took pictures and videos of the facilities at the barracks and sent them to Elmaram Kareem, an MP from Kerala. In response, Kareem sought urgent intervention by the Union health minister Harsh Vardhan to ensure that the quarantined students were being provided with the required facilities.
“There is not enough sanitation facility available in the camp. There are few toilets and many are not in a good condition. There is an acute water crisis due to which the students are unable to use the toilets or take bath,” Karem wrote to the Union health minister.
“We have contacted personnel of the Armed Forces Medical Services who are in-charge of the administration and upkeep of the camp to apprise them of the issue. It will likely be resolved,” a senior health ministry official told the Hindu Businessline.
On Monday, six of the students at the Manesar facility were shifted out after they displayed symptoms of coronavirus and are being kept in isolation, triggering anxiety among the remaining students. “Those suspect cases were taken out in front of us. We should ideally be separated from Wuhan students,” said Prabhakar.
Over the weekend, more than 600 people were brought back from Wuhan and moved to the two quarantine facilities set up by the army in Haryana’s Manesar and Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) in Chawla Camp. The students who had displayed symptoms of the coronavirus at the camp in Manesar were shifted to the Army’s Base Hospital in Delhi