Immigration delayed as IGI steps up screening process
NEWDELHI:As many as 240,064 foreign passengers who have entered India through New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International airport have so far been scanned for the novel coronavirus at the airport since January 17, beginning with people flying in from China, as the authorities scrambled to prevent the spread of the potentially deadly virus.
As medical staff and airport officials screen the passengers and note down their contact details just in case they developed symptoms of the Covid-19 later, immigration procedures have run into delays. No one seems to be complaining. The airport receives about 30,000 international passengers in a day.
On January 17, passengers arriving from China, whose Wuhan city is the epicentre of the new coronavirus, started being screened at the airport itself. The list expanded gradually to 12, with the addition of South Korea, Japan, Iran, Italy, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Nepal and Indonesia. At least 165,064 foreign passengers who arrived at the airport from these countries have gone through thermal scanners so far.
Since March 3, on the directions of the health ministry, the medical team started scanning all passengers arriving from overseas, and has so far checked at least an additional 75,000 passengers, airport officials said.
Of these 240,064 passengers, 24 foreigners, who were detected with symptoms of the coronavirus, were sent directly to hospitals for a detailed medical examination.
That has necessarily meant a delay, however small, in the immigration clearance process. “Earlier our average time to clear one passenger was around 30 seconds. Now it is taking around two minutes. The process has been delayed and is also causing crowding up of the immigration areas in peak time. We request the passengers to cooperate with us,” an airport official said, requesting anonymity,
On Tuesday, special counters for detailed medical examination of the arriving foreign passengers and for their immigration clearance were set up. Those who have visited the 12 specified countries are being examined as soon as they exit the aero-bridge and the others are being scanned at dedicated counters in the pre-immigration area.
All the passengers are being checked by staff of the Airport Health Organisation (APHO), which implements international health regulations. The medical staff is also stamping passenger immigrations forms and a passenger can only secure immigration clearance if he or she has been medically examined.
The airport operator, Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), has also placed billboards at many places in the immigration area to educate passengers about the disease. Notices with the helpline number 01123978046 have also been put up.
Notices also request passengers to inform the authorities and visit the nearest medical facility even if they did not exhibit symptoms of an acute onset of fever, cough or shortness of breath on their arrival from the 12 abovementioned countries but develop the systems within a period of 28 days.
Union health minister Harsh Vardhan visited the IGI airport late on Thursday evening to review the screening procedures put in place.