Europeans stuck in Kerala fly home; infections rise to 265

TRIVANDRUM: A batch of 232 tourists from Europe, held up in Kerala after the COVID-19 outbreak, a majority of them from Germany, have left for home on a chartered Air India flight.

All the four international airports in the southern state remain closed for regular traffic after a spurt in new coronavirus infections last month.

A vast majority of people who tested positive were those who returned from the Gulf and European countries.

With 24 more people being tested positive on Wednesday, the total number of infections has gone up to 265, according to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

Of them, 191 came from abroad, including seven foreigners, and 67 were secondary contacts here.

“Two of them, both natives and one secondary contact, died and 26, including four foreigners, have recovered,” he said.

Of the 164,130 potential carriers under quarantine, only 622 are in hospitals while others are at their homes. Of the 7,284 samples tested so far, 7,256 are negative. With new additions, the number of authorised labs has also gone up to 12, including two private ones.

Trivandrum International Airport director CV Ravindran said the airport remains open for cargo flights, evacuation of foreign nationals or refuelling.

“The Emirates is operating cargo flights to Dubai. We are ready to facilitate more services when loads come,” he told Gulf Today.

“We are told another evacuation flight may operate soon for Russian tourists stranded here.” Cochin and Calicut airports are also open for cargo flights, mainly carrying perishables to the Gulf destinations.

“We are closed except for these occasional cargo flights,” PS Jayan, the Cochin airport’s corporate communications manager, told Gulf Today.

“We’ll continue to operate for these flights as Kerala expatriates in the Gulf countries depend on fruits and vegetables from here.”

Tourism officials said Air India took only “asymptomatic tourists” from here after a fortnight’s wait as part of a massive evacuation drive launched by

Germany. The Indian flag carrier had scheduled similar charter flights to Frankfurt from Delhi, Bombay and Chennai as well this week.

The holidaymakers stranded in different locations of the state were brought to the state capital with the help of police and health authorities.

An official said some other countries, including the UK, had sought help for evacuating their citizens.

All the passengers were under quarantine for 14 days.

“All asymptomatic tourists who have not been in contact with high-risk individuals or had tested negative were eligible to fly,” Rani George, the state’s secretary for tourism, said.