The Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) is all set to receive the first batch of non-resident Indians (NRIs) who will be landing in Ernakulam on Thursday as part of the Centre’s evacuation programme, Vande Bharat Mission.
From staff equipped with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to special sanitation measures, the airport has taken foolproof measures to receive the passengers.
The Air India Express flight from Abu Dhabi carrying 171 passengers will land at CIAL by 9.40 pm on Thursday. This will be the first flight carrying expatriates to the state. Another flight carrying expatriates from Dubai will land at the Calicut International Airport by 10.30 pm the same night.
Landing, baggage, screening
From the moment the flight lands at the airport till the passengers reach the quarantine centres, every measure that has to be followed has already been prepared, read the statement from the Ernakulam district administration.
Starting from a separate parking bay for the flight to the aerobridges, the pathway through which the passengers walk from the flight into the airport has been fixed.
“The moment passengers enter the terminal, their body temperatures will be measured using thermal scanners and temperature gun. Those with symptoms of COVID-19 will be taken to Aluva district hospital in an ambulance,” said the statement.
Those without symptoms will be directed to health counters for another round of health check-up. From there, the passengers will be led to the immigration counter. After the procedures, the people will be moved to the baggage area. Specific spots are marked in each area for passengers to follow physical distancing.
All the luggage, too, will undergo a series of disinfection procedures to ensure it is not contaminated, before passengers can access it.
First, the baggage will be disinfected using sodium hypochlorite. The luggage, which then will move along the conveyor belt, will pass through two tunnels. As it enters each tunnel, a mechanism for ultraviolet light (UV) to automatically fall on different sides of baggage, has been installed. The Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Ernakulam Medical College have jointly developed this mechanism.
Passengers who come out with the baggage will be categorised as per their native districts and will be transported there in buses.
Of the people landing at Cochi airport from Abu Dhabi, the majority of passengers hail from Thrissur district at 73 people, while 25 are from Ernakulam, 23 from Malappuram, 15 from Alappuzha, 13 from Palakkad and Kottayam each, eight from Pathanamthitta and one from Kasaragod.
Among the 189 passengers who will land at the Calicut International Airport in Karipur from Dubai, 82 passengers are from Malappuram, 70 from Kozhikode, 15 from Wayanad, eight from Palakkad, six from Kannur, four from Kasaragod, two from Alappuzha and one each from Kottayam and Thiruvananthapuram.
CIAL will also handover special kits containing food, water and hand gloves to the passengers.
Revising its earlier guidelines that every passenger will be quarantined for a week at government facilities, the Kerala government has now decided that passengers in the high-risk categories — pregnant women, children below 10 years and aged people — will be sent for home quarantine.
Utmost care for frontline staff
The airport staff, who will have to directly come in contact with passengers, will be provided with Personal Protective Equipment, as a safety gear.
CIAL has taken more stringent precautions this time to ensure none of the staff is at risk of exposure. Earlier, two CIAL officials, who were on COVID-19 screening duty, had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.
All furniture in the airport, which had synthetic, clothes and leather upholstery, have been shifted from the area. About 2,000 plastic chairs have been arranged for the people and special 500 trolleys to carry luggage are also arranged.
After each flight service, the terminal will be disinfected.