Six passengers travelling on Air India's London-Delhi flight tested positive for COVID-19 on arrival, a senior government official said on Tuesday. The flight landed around 11.30 pm on Monday. "Five passengers were found COVID-positive at the Delhi airport. One passenger, who took a connecting flight to Chennai, was tested there and found positive," the official said.
Meanwhile, two passengers from the UK were found positive for coronavirus after they arrived at the Kolkata airport, health department officials said on Tuesday. A flight carrying 222 passengers from the UK arrived at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) airport on Sunday night, they said.
"Twenty-five passengers did not have COVID reports with them. So they were taken to a nearby quarantine centre, and their coronavirus tests were conducted. Two tested positive," the West Bengal Health and Family Welfare Department official said.
According to COVID-19 protocols, all international passengers coming to India will have to remain in isolation for seven days.
TNM earlier reported that a passenger in Chennai who returned from the United Kingdom has tested positive for coronavirus, and that samples have been sent to NIV Pune for a test to identify if it is the new strain of virus that is spreading in the UK.
The Tamil Nadu Health Secretary also said that passengers arriving from foreign countries as well as inter-state travellers should undertake home quarantine. “If the passengers are coming from a foreign country, they should take an RT-PCR test 96 hours prior to travel, based on the recommendation of health experts,” he said.
The government on Monday said all UK-India flights will be suspended from December 23 to December 31 in view of the emergence of new strain of coronavirus in that country. It also said all passengers coming from UK on Monday and Tuesday would be compulsorily tested for coronavirus on arrival at airports.