Kathmandu, March 16 The country’s sole international airport — Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) — is seeking public cooperation to keep the airport safe and to generate awareness about the coronavirus. The TIA authority has stated that the bottles of hand sanitiser placed in the bathrooms and other areas for safety purposes have begun disappearing. “While we are unable to point a finger at anyone, we expect the public to understand and cooperate to ensure safety of everyone working at or using the airport,” said Deo Chandra Lal Karn, spokesperson for TIA. “As the coronavirus is spreading rapidly around the world and the airport is the most crowded place, we have to keep this place safe for people,” he said, “But sometimes it becomes difficult for us as the people ignore small things that could play a significant role.” Over the last two months, the country’s sole international airport has taken several initiatives to prevent the coronavirus from spreading in the country. The TIA authority has arranged a health desk at the arrival area for health check-up and counselling of passengers arriving at the airport. A health team of 25 members comprising doctors, nurses and assistants have been arranged at TIA, as per Epidemiology and Disease Control Division of the Department of Health Services. Currently, the health staffers have been deployed round-the-clock in three shifts at the airport. Meanwhile, starting from today, TIA has arranged temperature scanning of passengers at the arrival of domestic terminal as well. The TIA authority has also set up a health centre provided by Norvic and Kathmandu Medical College at the arrival area. “Currently, we have made it mandatory for all international airline companies to make in-flight announcements regarding coronavirus response procedures,” Karn said. “Likewise, a health form has been distributed to all international airline companies that their passengers are required to fill out.” The self health declaration form has to be submitted at the health desk of TIA, he informed. “We are spraying the incoming passengers with disinfectants and also using infrared thermometer along with a fixed thermal scanner at the international arrival area,” he said, adding, “We have an ambulance on stand-by at the airport to transport any suspected case.” Along with TIA, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal has also set up health desks manned by nurses and health assistants in 13 other domestic airports. The health desks have been set up in Pokhara, Nepalgunj, Simara, Biratnagar, Bhairahawa, Rajbiraj, Janakpur, Bharatpur, Surkhet, Dhangadhi, Simikot, Dang and Dolpa airports. Meanwhile, government’s restriction on visa-on-arrival and travel ban by other countries have hit aircraft and passenger movement at TIA and other domestic airports. Per day international flights at TIA have dropped to around 40 against more than 100 before the virus outbreak.