UK-India flights resume; chaos at Delhi airport after last minute modifications in quarantine rules

-

Chaotic scenes were witnessed at the Delhi airport on Friday as many passengers arriving from the UK vociferously complained against the national capital government's belated decision to make seven-day institutional quarantine compulsory for them irrespective of their COVID-19 test results.

Passenger flights resumed from the UK to India in limited numbers from Friday onwards after remaining suspended for 16 days due to the emergence of a new coronavirus variant in that country.

Air India's AI112 flight from London landed at the Delhi airport at around 10.30 AM.

It was the only UK flight to land in Delhi on Friday and it had 256 passengers in it, said Gauri Agarwal, founder of the Genestrings Diagnostic Centre, which is handling coronavirus testing of all passengers at the Delhi airport.

Only two passengers were found positive for COVID-19 when tested on arrival, she said later in the day.

Vistara's former Chief Strategy and Commercial Officer Sanjiv Kapoor said on Twitter, "This is ridiculous. You cannot tell people the rules have changed after they land. Some notice must be given! Chaos at Delhi Airport with this flight, families with small children, pregnant woman howling.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on Friday afternoon that travellers coming from the UK to the national capital will have to undergo a seven-day institutional quarantine and a seven-day home quarantine even if they test negative for COVID-19 on arrival.

Air India, however, claimed on Twitter on Friday evening that it had informed the flight's passengers about the new advisory of the Delhi government before the plane took off from the Heathrow airport last night.

"Around 20 passengers opted to cancel their flight on being informed by Air India's London team of this advisory. The announcement was repeated during the flight as well," the carrier added.

A passenger of the flight, named Harpreet Takkar, tagged Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Twitter and said, "Just came from London AI112, it's absolutely maniac at Delhi Airport. Asking us to go for institutional quarantine even with a Negative PCR test. Didn't mention this on your SOP (standard operating procedure)."

Another passenger, Mohit Wadhwa, tagged Kejriwal on Twitter and said, "I am one of the passenger of flight AI112 from London with my 2 months old son. You locked everyone of us."

Sources said there were heated arguments between the passengers and security personnel who were present at the airport.

Air India said it had mobilised all available resources to expedite RT-PCR tests for passengers of the flight and extended "every possible support to facilitate them".

One Vistara flight with 291 passengers will come from London to Delhi on Saturday and two flights -- one of British Airways and another of Air India -- with a total of 481 passengers will land at the Delhi airport on Sunday, Gauri Agarwal stated.

Aviation Minister Puri had announced earlier this month that only 30 flights per week will operate between India and the UK between January 8 and January 23. Indian and UK carriers will each be operating 15 flights per week during the period.

Earlier this month, the Union Health Ministry stated that a passenger coming from the UK can board a flight to India only when he has a negative test report from a sample taken 72 hours prior to the journey.

Moreover, as per the rules, the passenger also has to take the RT-PCR test on arrival at the entry airport in India.

India had suspended all passenger flights between the UK and India from December 23 to January 7 as a new variant of coronavirus emerged in the UK.

Over 60 passenger flights per week were flying between India and the UK in December before the suspension.



from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/3bl2ogZ
Press Trust of India

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Both COVID-19 vaccine doses needed for good protection against B16172 variant

-
It’s been a concerning few weeks in the UK, with the B16172 variant first taking hold and then spreading to become dominant. This more infectious form of the virus, initially identified in India, is what we’re now going to have to live with – unless it is out-competed by another variant in the future. Worryingly, experts had predicted that B16172 might be able to escape some of the effects of vaccines, which if true would threaten to derail the UK’s plans to finish lifting restrictions from the end of June. However, Public Health England (PHE) has looked at the ability of various variants to evade immunity and says that the UK’s vaccines remain effective against the variants circulating, including B16172. On the surface, this looks like good news. But delve a bit deeper, and things get more complicated, says Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia. PHE’s research found a little drop-off in protection against B16172 among people who were fully vaccinated.
Read more

New coronavirus variant emerge in India: How should our COVID response change?

-
Image
After genome sequencing of over 10,000 COVID-19 cases in India, researchers have discovered a new variant with two new mutations which may be better at evading the immune system. In 15-20 percent of samples from the Indian state of Maharashtra (the state accounting for 62 percent of cases in the country) a new, double mutation in key areas of the virus has been detected. These are now known as the E484Q and L452R mutations. What makes the variant different? Both these mutations are concerning because they are located in a key portion of the virus – the spike protein – that it uses to penetrate human cells. Spike proteins attach via a “receptor binding domain”, meaning the virus can attach to receptors in our cells. These new mutations include changes to the spike protein that make it a “better fit” for human cells. This means the virus can gain entry more easily and multiply faster. Given what we have seen with other similar mutations , it might also make it harder for our immu
Read more

120 flights delayed, 30 trains running late; Delhi fog & cold wave continue to give shiver to travellers

-
Arrival and departure of 120 flights, both domestic and international, to Delhi airport were affected due to dense fog and cold wave conditions on Wednesday, according to Delhi Airport FIDS (Flight Information Display System). As per the Delhi Airport FIDS, a total of 53 flights, including 21 domestic arrivals, 16 domestic departures, 13 international departures and three international arrivals scheduled are cancelled and not operating due to fog and other operational reasons from and to Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in the national capital on 17 January. #WATCH | Delhi: Several flight operations delayed at IGI airport due to low visibility amid fog. pic.twitter.com/hG1DUKllEt — ANI (@ANI) January 17, 2024 Visuals from the Delhi airport showed passengers waiting outside, checking update of their scheduled flights. There were also some people waiting for flight of their families, friends and loved ones to arrive, which got delayed due to fog. #WATCH | Delhi | Pas
Read more