JOIN USGujarat: 220 crew members quarantined in their ships two nautical miles off coast
More than 220 people, mostly crew members of shipping boats returned from gulf countries, have been put under quarantine in their shipping vessels itself in Devbhumi Dwarka district, nearly 2 nautical miles off the coastline.
These crew members arrived at the shore in the past one week but the district administration stopped them from landing due to protocol that mandates medical screening and home quarantine for all coming from abroad to check the spread of coronavirus.
They will be in their boats till the quarantine period, mostly 14 days, and after thorough medical examination, they will be allowed to set foot on the land. Officials said that the crew members are mostly from Salaya, a coastal town, and live in joint families with members as big as 25 to 30 in one family. They said that strict home quarantine would not have been possible and that's why the district administration devised this plan which agreed upon by everyone. In the district, a total of 538 persons are under quarantine and so far 14 tests were conducted which turned out to be negative.
Although the coastal district in the Saurashtra region has not reported a single positive case, officials said that they are not taking any chance and only following the guidelines to contain the spread of the virus. "Their ships (mid size vessel) are well equipped with the facilities for staying for two weeks. We are providing them ration and freshwater on daily basis and a team of health officer also visit them in boat to check their status," said Dwarka collector Narendrakumar Meena.
When contacted, district superintendent of police Rohan Anand told DH, "Their vessels are anchored nearly two nautical miles off the coast in Salaya. We are expecting more crew members landing with their vessels in the days to come. We made this arrangement after consulting with all the stakeholders including their family members." He added that most of these vessels (dhow) have arrived earlier than the scheduled timing since all activities have been stopped due to the spread of the virus.
Meanwhile, Gujarat reported one COVID-19 positive case in the past 24 hours on Thursday evening, taking the total case to 88. So far, seven persons have died in the state that included death of a 53-year-old man in Vadodara, whose wife, son, daughter-in-law and his daughter are all infected with the virus. The man and his wife had gone to Sri Lanka.