New rules to screen travellers from virus-affected countries
Officials will escort groups of 30 at a time for thermal screening; authorities to keep passports to ensure mandatory quarantine for those affected
NEW DELHI: The government on Wednesday said flights arriving from coronavirus-affected countries to Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport will be staggered to facilitate mandatory screening of passengers.
New rules were unveiled after passengers complained about facing long waits, as well as delays in screening. Some posted videos on social media, saying the completion of all formalities took them as much as six hours.
The new standard operating procedure (SOP) restricts the movement of passengers to groups of 30 accompanied by a five-member escort team headed by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and comprising representatives of airlines, Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) and Delhi Police, and puts in place measures to ensure travellers cannot evade screening and quarantine.
Travellers will have to undergo initial thermal screening by the Airport Health Organisation (APHO) on emerging from aerobridges. Symptomatic passengers will be taken to hospital while others will be taken to immigration counters.
The SOP states passports will be retained at the immigration counters and handed over to the head of the escort teams. “The passports shall not be handed over to the passengers, at any cost,” it adds.
The escort teams, to be present round the clock, will assist passengers in baggage claims and customs clearance. The teams will remain with the passengers till their final examination by the Delhi government’s health department inside the airport, a senior Delhi government official said on condition of anonymity.
Those at high or moderate risk will be given their passports only after they complete the mandatory 14-day quarantine in a government facility (the Delhi government will hold on to their passports in this duration), while those at low risk, who have to undergo home quarantine for two weeks, will get their passports at the end of formalities at the airport.
This reiteration comes following complaints from passengers, who criticised the government’s move of seizing passports. The administration has said this is necessary to ensure compliance with the mandatory screening and 14-day quarantine.
“The high risk passengers identified for quarantine at the facilities would be first asked to fill up a declaration opting for paid hotel facility/government quarantine facility (based on availability) and subsequently would be quarantined as per availability list of quarantine facilities given by the state government,” the SOP states.
The passengers sent for home quarantine will have to sign a declaration “to remain strictly under home quarantine, or else face penal action,” it adds.
The SOP, prepared during a meeting chaired by special secretary (health) Sanjeeva Kumar and held at Nirman Bhawan, states the government is exploring the possibility of stamping passengers with “home quarantine stamps”, as is being done in Maharashtra.
“These passengers would be linked to the IDSP (integrated disease surveillance programme) system. Delhi government would depute Delhi state IDSP team for this purpose,” the SOP states.
An airport official said under the SOP, all flights arriving from Covid-19-affected countries will land with gaps of 30 to 40 minutes so that screening can be done smoothly.
“All other flights will operate normally. Flights bringing back Indians from highly-affected nations will continue to be attended to at isolation bays,” a second airport official said on condition of anonymity.
The government has imposed mandatory 14-day quarantine for all passengers from countries such as China, South Korea, the UAE, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait, irrespective of their condition. In this case too, their passports will be taken by the state government and handed over after the quarantine is complete.
Shortly after these rules were put in place, external affairs minister S Jaishankar conducted an inspection at Delhi airport late on Tuesday evening. He tweeted, “India works because countless Indians do. Night or day, rain or shine. Went tonight to meet our immigration, health, security and airport officials @Delhiairport who are responding to #COVID challenge.”
“While passengers are being encouraged to resort to online check-ins as much as possible, the self check-in kiosks installed inside terminal buildings at the airport are also being frequently cleaned by approved disinfectants. Self check-in equipment and trays at the security check area for departing flights are also being regularly cleaned with disinfectants,” DIAL, the Delhi airport operator, said.
Separate baggage belts are allocated in a segregated area for flights arriving from high-risk countries, DIAL stated.
NO BREATHALYSERS
Air traffic controllers have sought the direct and immediate intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to put on hold the mandatory breath analyser tests they need to undergo when they report for duty, citing the coronavirus outbreak.
“Anytime an air traffic controller can be infected by the deadly and highly infectious virus through BA test. lf one controller gets infected, the whole shift will get infected and the entire airport will need to be closed,” the Air Traffic Controllers’ Guild wrote in a letter to Modi dated March 17.