First batch of Haryana residents to arrive today from Singapore, to be quarantined for 14 days

CHANDIGARH: The first batch of Haryana residents stranded abroad due to Covid -19 travel restrictions will touch down at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) on Friday morning. The Air India flight (AI381) from Singapore carrying 243 passengers, many of them from Haryana, will reach New Delhi at 11.35 am.

The flight schedule of the stranded Haryana residents and the modalities of the mandatory 14-day institutional quarantine upon arrival have been worked out following deliberations between foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla and state government top brass.

The second flight (AI 1242) with 165 passengers on board including Haryana residents from Dhaka in Bangladesh will arrive at New Delhi on May 9 at 3 pm.

The third flight (AI 926) from Riyadh in Saudi Arabia with145 passengers including Haryana residents will arrive at IGIA on May 10 at 8 pm.

QUARANTINE FACILITIES FOR RETURNEES

As per the standard operating procedure (SoP) of the Union ministry of home affairs, all the stranded Indian nationals flying in from foreign shores will be taken to suitable institutional quarantine facilities possibly at the headquarters of the districts to which the arriving passengers belonged. “As per the new instructions, all Haryana residents will be quarantined in Gurugram and Faridabad if numbers from other districts are less. Subsequently, they will be sent to their home district centres as and when the numbers increase,” said an official coordinating the arrivals.

Top officials said that passengers will have to undergo mandatory 14-day institutional quarantine upon arrival. The cost incurred during the quarantine period will have to borne by the passengers.

Conservative estimates of the ministry of external affairs have put the number of stranded persons from Haryana at 3,693. However, state officials said it could go up to 5,000.