Chaos as India opens airports
STATES CAP ARRIVALS AND DEPARTURES FORCING AIRLINES TO CANCEL FLIGHTS
INDIA recorded a total of 145,380 coronavirus infections and a death toll of 4,167, as Eastern Eye went to press on Tuesday (26), comparatively low figures for the world’s second-most populous country.
But separate states witnessing millions of migrant labourers returning from the big cities were recording rising infections, officials said, fearing that the pandemic could spread through villages where medical care is basic at best.
Health ministry officials said India’s death rate stood at 0.3 deaths per 100,000 people, compared to what they said was a world average of 4.4. “We have surprisingly found a low fatality rate in India, which is very good,” said Balram Bhargava, director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research, in New Delhi.
Officials from the home and railway ministries said at least 4.5 million workers had migrated home from economic hubs in the two months since prime minister Narendra Modi declared a lockdown.
Bihar in east India registered more than 160 infections on Monday (25), its highest one-day rise, taking its tally to more than 2,700 cases. In the past 48 hours, more than 75 people tested positive in Odisha and 176 in different districts in Rajasthan.
The latest cases have forced authorities to stretch limited testing resources.
“Dozens of labourers who travelled from New Delhi have tested positive. We are ensuring that no one enters their village with this infection,” said Gaurav Sinha, a senior health official in Bihar’s capital, Patna.
Economists studying reverse migration patterns said India’s poorest migrant labourers have been the worst hit by the lockdown. TV footage early in the crisis showed police beating migrant workers as they tried to board city buses to reach their villages, making a mockery of social distancing.
Meanwhile, domestic flights resumed in India on Monday, as confusion about quarantine rules prompted jitters among passengers and the cancellation of dozens of planes. India had halted all flights within the country, and departing and leaving for abroad, in late March as it sought to stop the spread of coronavirus with the world’s largest lockdown.
But desperate to get Asia’s third-largest economy moving again, the government announced last week that around 1,050 daily flights – a third of the usual capacity – would resume on Monday.
Aviation minister Hardeep
Singh
Puri said strict rules would include mandatory mask-wearing and thermal screenings, although middle seats on the aircraft would not be kept empty.
The announcement reportedly caught airlines and state authorities off-guard, with several local governments announcing that passengers would have to go into quarantine for two weeks on arrival.
Maharashtra, the state with the highest number of coronavirus cases, capped at 50 the number of departures and arrivals in and out of its capital Mumbai.
Airlines scrapped dozens of flights on Monday while hundreds of passengers cancelled their bookings, reports said.
The NDTV news channel said 82 flights to and from New Delhi had been cancelled and nine at Bangalore airport. Other flights from cities, including infection hotspots Mumbai and Chennai were struck off, many at short notice, reports said.
At Mumbai airport, social distancing was forgotten as irate passengers harangued staff after their flights were cancelled at the last minute.
At New Delhi airport, hundreds of people anxious to get home but apprehensive about the risks queued from before dawn – all wearing masks and standing at least one metre (three feet) apart. Security personnel behind plastic screens verified check-in documents and that passengers had the government contact tracing app, Aarogya Setu, on their phones.
“While I’m looking forward (to flying home), the idea of flying is really scary,” student Gladia Laipubam said as she stood in line.
“Anything can happen. It’s very risky. I don’t really know when I’ll be able to come back to Delhi now. There is no clarity from the university too at this time.”
One female airline employee wearing gloves, a mask and a protective face shield said she and many other colleagues felt “very nervous” about starting work again.
Cabin crew on the planes had to wear full protective suits with masks, plastic visors and blue rubber gloves, and many were also confused about the rules.
Singh said international flights could resume in June, although dozens of special flights have in recent weeks brought back some of the hundreds of thousands of Indians stuck abroad. (Agencies)