The emergence of a new strain of coronavirus in the United Kingdom has triggered various precautionary measures in several parts of India such as the re-imposition of night curfew, an institutional quarantine at the airports and mandatory COVID-19 tests for all passengers coming from Britain.
This measure was replaced by a complete ban on incoming flights from the country at midnight on Tuesday.
Confusion prevailed at the Amritsar airport in Punjab state over the testing of incoming passengers from the UK, while the Indian state of Maharashtra sent incoming passengers from Britain to institutional quarantine, apart from imposing a night curfew in the state.
The emergency rules, however, evoked an anxious response from the passengers, as they were requested to stay at the airport for six to eight hours. 242 passengers arriving at the Amritsar airport in Punjab were directed to undergo RT-PCR tests for COVID-19.
A total of 242 passengers have arrived on board this special flight. They need to undergo RT-PCT test which may take 6-8 hours and for that, passenger need to stay at the airport: Deepak Bhatia, SDM, Ajnala, Amritsar https://t.co/JNzi4yarIq pic.twitter.com/6IiA55KVsC
— ANI (@ANI) December 22, 2020
However, the relatives of the passengers waiting outside the Amritsar airport complained that even those who underwent Covid tests before boarding the flight were also being asked to undergo tests.
Punjab: People wait outside Amritsar airport to receive their relatives who came from a flight from London. "Authorities are asking passengers to undergo COVID-19 testing even if they were tested just before boarding the flight. They should be allowed to go home," a person says. pic.twitter.com/vj9I8NBi4V
— ANI (@ANI) December 22, 2020
The situation was no different in Mumbai.
Punjab: People wait outside Amritsar airport to receive their relatives who came from a flight from London. "Authorities are asking passengers to undergo COVID-19 testing even if they were tested just before boarding the flight. They should be allowed to go home," a person says. pic.twitter.com/vj9I8NBi4V
— ANI (@ANI) December 22, 2020
Passengers arriving in Mumbai said that they should have been told about the institutional quarantine.
Mumbai: Passengers who arrived from United Kingdom have been sent to institutional quarantine in the wake of new Coronavirus strain.
— ANI (@ANI) December 21, 2020
People who came to receive them say, "Govt should have informed us before. Didn't passengers board flight after being permitted by authorities?" https://t.co/btlPfY8Rnw pic.twitter.com/7BDcdK2zbA
The Indian state of Karnataka, too, asked its citizens who have returned in the last fourteen days to undergo the RTPCR test.
We request people who have returned from abroad in the last 14 days especially from the countries including United Kingdom, Netherlands and Denmark to undergo RT-PCR test, in view of the new strain of Coronavirus: Dr K Sudhakar, Karnataka Health Minister pic.twitter.com/GFKyNwCQgM
— ANI (@ANI) December 21, 2020
