16 fliers test +ve in 3 days; K’taka seeks fewer flights from five states
NEW DELHI/BENGALURU:A total of 16 asymptomatic passengers on seven different flights including 13 of them who travelled by Indigo have tested positive for Covid-19 since the resumption of domestic air services on Monday, according to airlines data.
Two of the three asymptomatic passengers who tested positive for the infection had travelled by Spicejet while one took a flight of Air India subsidiary Alliance Air.
The Karnataka government, meanwhile, said on Thursday it has requested the Civil Aviation ministry to reduce the number of flights originating from five states--maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan--in the light of the high number of Covid-19 cases there, hours after a minister said it has “suspended” air travel from these states. Law and parliamentary affairs minister J CM ad huswa my said that the state has not sought imposing a ban on flights from the five states as reported in some sections of the media.
On Thursday evening, Indigo said in a statement, “A few asypmtomatic passengers who travelled on Indigo flights were discovered to be C-19 positive on May 28, 2020. This included 3 passengers on 6E 955 from Delhi to Jammu on May 26, 6 passengers on board 6E 6992 from Bengaluru to Coimbatore on May 27 and 2 passengers on 6E 908 from Delhi to Coimbatore on May 27.
Earlier during the day, the airline said in another statement, “An asymptomatic passenger who travelled on Indigo on 6E 7214 from Bangalore to Madurai on May 27, 2020 was discovered to be Covid-19 positive during the mandatory testing at the quarantine facility in Madurai on 27th May.”all our aircraft are regularly sanitized as a standard operating procedure, and the aircraft operating these flights were immediately disinfected as per protocol,” the airline said in both the statements.”the operating crew has been home quarantined for 14 days and we are in the process of notifying other passengers as per the government guidelines,” it said in a statement.