Ban all foreign flights: Etala
Health minister tells Centre to abandon Indians stuck abroad
The Telangana government has urged the Centre to ban all incoming international flights into the country to prevent the further ‘import’ of Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) cases.
Speaking to Union health minister Harsh Vardhan on Wednesday, state health minister Etala Rajendar urged him to impress upon the Central government to ban all international air travel into India.
The state government has steadfastly held that every one of the six Covid19 positive cases recorded in Telangana was that of an individual who got infected in a different country and carried it back. The first positive case of Covid-19 in Telangana was confirmed on March 2 and the sixth on March 18.
He said that while the Telangana government “was concerned about well-being of Indians stuck abroad, it is not advisable to get people who are stuck in other countries into India at this stage”.
“The Central government should work through local embassies in such countries and ensure all Indians stuck there are looked after and provided the healthcare needed. It is not a good idea to get someone with an infection into the country, given the population density and the threat of mass spread of the disease,” he said.
The minister said that while it was finally a call for the Centre to make, if it wants to bring Indians back home, it can do so in special flights and keep all such returnees in special camps, under its control, in Delhi.
Chairing a review meeting on secondary transmission of disease from infected individuals arriving in the state, Mr Rajendar urged Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar to take every possible step to ensure quarantine facilities for all international passengers arriving into Telangana.
“Arrangements must be made for all such passengers to be placed under quarantine. We should be prepared to house an increasing number of people in such facilities,” he said, adding, “we have planned for keeping 5,000 persons with symptoms in isolation and more than 20,000 asymptomatic persons under quarantine at different locations in the state.”