Airports across US, Europe and Asia introduce special measures to stop spread of coronavirus

Airports around the world have brought in special measures to detect the spread of coronavirus, as China locks down cities ahead of Chinese New Year.

Airports around the world have begun taking precautions to deal with an anticipated influx of Chinese tourists taking Lunar New Year holidays, just as the outbreak of a pneumonia-like virus in China has prompted officials there to take drastic measures to prevent its spread.

Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international travel, announced on Thursday that, following government guidance, all passengers arriving on direct flights from China will receive thermal screening at the gate upon arrival and be provided with informational brochures.

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The screening will be conducted at secured, closed gates by teams from the Dubai Health Authority and the Airport Medical Center, Dubai Airports said in a statement provided to The Associated Press.

The airport authority would not say whether it expected a drop in passengers from China for the Lunar New Year holiday, which begins Friday, following China’s decision to close off Wuhan, a city of 11 million people, where a newly identified coronavirus first appeared last month.

Chinese are expected to take an estimated three billion trips during the 40-day spike in travel. China shut down train stations, the airport, subways, ferries and long-distance shuttle buses in the city, and local authorities have demanded all residents wear masks in public places.

Passengers from an international flight have their temperature checked as they pass a thermal scanner monitor upon arrival at the Adisucipto International Airport in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Picture: Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images.

At dawn on Thursday, Italian Red Cross officials were on hand at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport to meet the last flight from Wuhan before the Chinese city’s airport was shut down.

The 202 passengers were taken to a special sterile area for a screening of their body temperature by health workers wearing sanitary suits, goggles and masks, but none were found to be suffering from the virus, Dr. Michele Bonizzi said.

“The passengers passed through this structure where, if there had been – and that was not the case today – a need to do further tests our ambulance was there” to take them to a hospital, she said.

Before flights from Wuhan were grounded, passengers arriving in the U.S. from flights originating in the city were directed to Kennedy Airport in New York, Los Angeles International, San Francisco International, O’Hare Airport in Chicago and Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport where facilities were set up for screening.

Passengers arrive in Sydney after a flight from Wuhan. Picture: Don Arnold/Getty Images)

British authorities said passengers arriving from China to Heathrow Airport in London, Europe’s busiest, and other airports were not being screened but that they were being given information leaflets on what to do if they fall ill.

Germany’s Fraport, the operator of Frankfurt Airport, said it had not yet received any government guidance advising screening take place so there are currently no travel restrictions.

In China, measures similar to the lockdown in Wuhan were being taken at nearby cities in Hubei province, with public transport suspended and theatres, internet cafes and other entertainment centres closed beginning Friday, according to state media reports.

A Chinese police officer wears a protective mask at a Beijing railway station. Chinese authorities put travel restrictions on the city of Wuhan and two other neighbouring cities. Picture: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

The coronavirus family includes the common cold as well as viruses that cause more serious illnesses, such as the SARS outbreak that spread from China to more than a dozen countries in 2002-2003 and killed about 800 people, and Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome, which developed from camels.

So far, most of China’s 571 cases have been in Wuhan and a total of 17 people have died, all of them in and around the city.

The Lunar New Year is one of the world’s largest annual movement of people, and previously Dubai Airports said it was “preparing to welcome thousands of Chinese travellers” ahead of the weekend.

Preliminary figures show Dubai Airport welcomed some 3.7 million passengers from China, a five per cent increase year-on-year.

— Associated Press writers David Koenig in Dallas, Jill Lawless in London, and Tricia Thomas in Rome contributed to this story.