New Delhi, July 8 (Inditop.com) India has asked all countries affected by swine flu to undertake screening of passengers travelling to this country but no nation has acted on this yet, parliament was informed Wednesday.
In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor said his ministry had sent instructions to Indian missions, as requested by the health ministry, to take up the issue of exit screening for passengers traveling to India.
“So far, no country has commenced such exit screening,” he said.
The reluctance to implement the request was due to the fact that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has not recommended such exit screening or travel restrictions in the aftermath of the swine flu outbreak, said Tharoor.
As on July 7, WHO has reported over 90,000 laboratory-confirmed cases of swine flu infection and over 440 deaths from 137 countries. India has so far reported 129 cases.
rounak