Around 15,000 Indian nationals evacuated by the Central government from 12 countries are expected to land in India within week. So far five flights landed as part of the mission. Four from the UAE and one from Singapore.
The first two flights from the UAE were landed in Kochi and Kozhikode respectively. The Friday’s two flights were landed in Chennai with 360 passengers. The Singapore flight transferred 234 passengers. The first flight from Bahrain was landed in Kochi on Friday night. Another one from Saudi Arabia arrived in Kozhikode.
“Covid IgG and IgM are being done by DHA officials in an orderly manner. Flight IX 612 at 1900 hrs and IX 540 at 2015 hrs to Chennai taking more than 360 passengers,” Mr Vipul, the Consul General of Dubai, said in a tweet.
India’s External Affairs Minister Dr Jaishankar lauded the co-ordinated activities in Dubai and Abu Dhabi to help the stranded Indians. He praised Ambassador Pavan Kapoor, Consul General Vipul and their team for the exemplary works. Consulate officials like Mrs. Uma, Mrs. Neelu and Mr. Pankaj were got special mentioning in social media circuit for their patience and support to passengers to complete the procedures.
Those coming back to India will be required to fill a self reporting form to declare if they have any COVID-19 symptoms, as well as register the Aarogya Setu app on reaching their destination.
After scrutiny, they would be quarantined for 14 days, either in a hospital or in an institutional quarantine on payment-basis, by the concerned State government.
KThe first flight from Bahrain with 177 passengers landed at Kochi around 11.30 p.m. and another one will come from Riyadh in Saudi Arabia with 162 passengers to the Kozhikode airport at 8.30 p.m.
Sources said 64 Air India flights carrying Indian nationals will land at 14 airports across India during from May 7-15. On Thursday, 181 passengers from Abu Dhabi and 182 passengers from Dubai have already returned in four Air India flights to Kochi and Kozhikode respectively. On Friday, 234 Indian nationals returned from Singapore to Delhi and 168 from Dhaka to Srinagar. All passengers from UAE underwent rapid anti-body tests before departure.
Official sources said, 27 flights will take off from the Gulf region next week with 11 from UAE (including the four that have already landed), five from Saudi Arabia, five from Kuwait, two from Bahrain, two from Qatar and two from Oman. From the neighbourhood, seven flights will take off from Bangladesh (including the one that has already landed) carrying passengers bound for Srinagar, Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai.
Similarly, sources said, 14 flights are scheduled to bring Indians from South-East Asia, with five flights each from Singapore (including the one that has already landed) and the Philippines and four from Malaysia.
Seven flights have been allotted for evacuation of Indians from four airports in the US –New York, Washington DC, Chicago and San Francisco. Another seven flights have been assigned for passengers in London in the UK.
Sources said Indian nationals are expected to land at 14 airports across India in ten flights arriving in Delhi, nine in Hyderabad, nine in Kochi, four in Kozhikode, one in Trivandrum, one in Kannur, nine in Chennai, one in Trichy, five in Ahmadabad, four in Mumbai, three in Srinagar, four in Bengaluru, one in Lucknow and one in Amritsar.
INS Jalashwa has set sail on Friday, May 8, from Male to Kochi with approximately 700 returnees on board, sources said. INS Magar, is expected to set sail from Male with 200 returnees on May 10 to reach Kochi on May 12. Depending upon requirements, both ships will make another journey from Male to Tuticorin subsequently.
Federal officials in New Delhi said the Ministry of External Affairs has developed an online platform on which requests received by Indian Missions from Indian nationals wishing to return are regularly being uploaded. So far, sources said, 67,833 requests for repatriation have been registered. These include, requests from 34 per cent of all 22,470 students, 30 per cent of all 15,815 migrant workers, 9,250 short-term visa holders faced with the expiry of visas, 5,531 with a medical emergency or seeking treatment for terminal illness, 4,147 tourists stranded abroad, 3,041 pregnant women and the elderly and 1,112 of those required to return due to death of a family member.
The largest number of requests came from Indian nationals of Kerala with 25,246 applications, followed by Tamil Nadu (6,617), Maharashtra (4,341), Uttar Pradesh (3,715), Rajasthan (3,320), Telangana (2,796), Karnataka (2,786), Andhra Pradesh (2,445), Gujarat (2,330) and Delhi (2,232).
