Coronavirus | Army spending ₹3.5 lakh a day on Manesar quarantine facility

Some of those quarantined have been demanding special facilities: Army officials

Updated - March 12, 2020 09:11 pm IST - NEW DELHI

A file picture of the Indian Army's quarantine facility near Manesar, Haryana. Photo courtesy: Indian Army

A file picture of the Indian Army's quarantine facility near Manesar, Haryana. Photo courtesy: Indian Army

The Army is incurring an expenditure of ₹3.5 lakh per day to run the quarantine facility at Manesar for persons suspected of being infected with the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and 60 personnel have been committed to run the facility, Army officials said on Thursday. Some of those quarantined have been demanding special facilities, resulting in some arguments, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

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“While the facility is deemed to be an emergency facility responding to emergency requirements given by the Government, those managing the facility have indicated that many detainees demand special facilities like independent rooms thus creating hindrances in smooth functioning of the medical and administrative staff at the facility,” an official said.

Observing that people brought in had already travelled together, the official asserted that there was not much merit in putting people in an individual quarantine space for 14 days. “Despite differing individual preferences and demands, the army has gone about doing their job in the best possible way,” the official added.

Till date, a total of 455 individuals who had arrived from Wuhan (248), Japan (124) and Italy (83) had been quarantined in three batches at Manesar. The emergency quarantine facility can accommodate 300 people and those quarantined are monitored for a period of two weeks as per established procedure.

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Giving an update on the Defence Ministry’s role in handling the issue, Army spokesperson Col. Aman Anand said, at present, the military was running two medical facilities at Hindon, Ghaziabad and Manesar, Haryana, and a total of 265 civilians were under military supervision at these two facilities. “As per Director General Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS), a batch of 124 cases have completed their 14 days of isolation at Manesar facility, have tested negative and are ready to leave the facility,” he stated.

With the government set to bring back more Indians from abroad, Col Anand added, “We are expecting more citizens to be brought back in the next few days. We are ready with the facilities at Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Deolali, Jhansi, Gorakhpur, Kolkata, Chennai and Suratgarh.”

 

The Government is set to bring back about 400 Indians from Iran in three batches and the initial batch is likely to be put up at the Army quarantine facility in Jaisalmer. The new facilities can accommodate 250-300 people each.

The Manesar facility consists of temporary barracks for accommodation, administration and medical facilities and to prevent mass outbreak, the facility has been divided into sectors, each with a maximum capacity of 50 persons. The population of sectors are not allowed to intermingle with each other. Apart from playing games, watching TV and having meals together within a barrack, persons are not allowed to interact with the occupants of another barrack or sector, another Army official said.

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