Bengaluru: A dozen flights were expected to bring more stranded Indians back home on Tuesday, the sixth day of the Vande Bharat mission, according to the government. A Meanwhile, a naval vessel docked at Kochi with a group of 202 people from the Maldives. Four flights were to arrive from the Gulf, five from Southeast Asia, including the Philippines and Singapore, and one each from the UK, the US and Bangladesh.
Tuesday’s plan included the largest number of flights since 7 May, when India started the mammoth mission to bring home Indians stranded abroad owing to covid-19 pandemic.
The flights were to land in New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Srinagar, Kochi, Mangaluru and Kannur—places closest to the hometowns of the evacuees, who are to be placed under compulsory quarantine, said officials.
INS Magar, with 202 people from the Maldives, docked at Cochin Port in Kerala Tuesday. The group included 91 people from Kerala, 83 from Tamil Nadu and 27 from other states, a navy statement said. This mission, codenamed “Samudra Setu”, is part of “Vande Bharat” mission. The Centre had said in the first phase 7-13 May around 15,000 Indians will be brought back from over a dozen countries on 60 flights.
In the second phase, between 16 and 22 May, flight operations will be extended to cover 31 countries in Europe, Russia and Central Asia, people familiar with the developments said. This phase will involve 149 flights, including domestic routes, besides those bringing in returnees from abroad.
According to government data, till 11 May, 31 flights brought in 6,037 people stranded abroad. Besides, two ships brought in 819 Indians—taking the total number of people brought home by air and by sea, to around 7,000. Their return comes as India’s caseload of covid-19 infections has shot up to breach the 70,000 mark with over 2,500 fatalities. Officials fear that the returnees could cause a spike in the number of cases in India.
Kerala, which had flattened the curve of infections, will be receiving the bulk of the evacuees. It has strengthened its quarantine rules after at least 11 people, of the nearly 2,000 returnees, tested covid-19 positive. During a call with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, Kerala reiterated its demand for returnees to be given antibody tests before they boarded transport.
It also said that an e-pass is now compulsory for all passengers arriving in trains from across India. People need to register for e-pass in a ‘Covid-19 Jagratha’ portal and all passengers will be screened for the virus symptoms.
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