The entire Kerala is praying with one mind for the safety of 21 students from the state who are stranded in coronavirus-hit Chinese territory, where the number of deaths due to the dangerous virus outbreak is going up daily.
The students are stranded at the Kunming airport, as their visa papers have expired and their renewal has led to undue delay and airlines refusing to fly them out. Of the 21 stranded, as many as 15 are girls, studying at the Dalian Medical College. There are also a few business management students.
The External Affairs Ministry has intervened and has mounted a rescue effort. The affected students are in touch with their relatives through Whatsapp. They are expected to be rescued any time now.
The affected group decided to leave their places as the mounting number of deaths around them became intimidating and they could no longer muster the courage to stay back. But their departure was delayed as their visa papers had expired. They got the new documents only on Wednesday.
The students were booked on a flight to Singapore on the way back to India, but the airline refused to fly anyone other than Singapore citizens. This left them with no option but to be stranded at the airport. The airlines are strictly following restrictions imposed by various governments in accepting passengers seeking to fly out of China.
Meanwhile, the state health department has issued more guidelines about dealing with family members of those who have returned from China. Students and teachers, who are relatives of people coming from other countries with suspected virus cases have been told to stay indoors for the entire period of isolation.
The state is on a high-alert over the outbreak and district collectors have been asked to convene meetings of religious and political outfits to help in the effort to contain the problem. As part of the precautionary measures, all excursion and study tours from educational institutions have been banned for the time being.
Over 2,500 persons are under observation throughout the state. In view of the risk of the disease spreading, the breath analyser test to detect drunken driving by the motor vehicle department has been suspended.
