Passengers Contradict Government, Claim There's No Screening For Coronavirus At Indian Airports
India reported asharp rise in infections¡ªfrom six to 29 in a matter of 48 hours. All passengers arriving in India from other coronavirus-affected countries like Italyand Iranwill undergo strict medical screening at the airports. Passenger accounts on social media seems to be entirely different.
Just as India reported a sharp rise in infections¡ªfrom six to 29 in a matter of 48 hours¡ªthe Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) immediately announced that all passengers arriving in India from other coronavirus-affected countries like Italy and Iran will undergo strict medical screening at the airports.
However, the ground reality with regard to passenger accounts on social media seems to be entirely different.
Twitter
One Twitter user wrote, 'There was no screening till yesterday at IGI T3 and this whole drama is done only after travellers took it to social media about lack of screening.'
Another claimed, 'I returned last week from IGI international airport and I felt screening @DelhiAirport is not adequate. The medical team sitting there should be checking each passenger not based on the country of return as this is common sense virus. if one is infected probability is many wills.'
Many passengers slammed the Delhi airport authorities for its lackadaisical approach. Take a look at the responses below:
#1
As per reports of ABP news no proper screening of passengers from affected countries at IGI Airport and Health Minister is bluffing to be extra careful and proper screening, please check out it
¡ª RAJ SINGH RANA (@RAJSINGHRANA11) March 5, 2020
#2
I guess one of the reasons why #COVID2019 spread in India is the lack of screening at the airports. I flew recently and when I returned, I expected thermal checks at any point at IGI airport but there was none. I went straight to the immigration - not even a health card to fill.
¡ª Shadab Nazmi (@shadabnazmi) March 5, 2020
#3
We just got lucky and our preparations were utterly poor. I haven't seen any stringent sanitation process at IGI Airport, why not screen all international travellers,Why are we not closing international flying space? Our screening method is so weak. How are we prepared?
¡ª Yashasvi (@YashasviiMeenu) March 3, 2020
#4
Screening at Indian airports seems like a sham! My friend's friend returned from Italy last week and didn't go through any screening at IGI Delhi.
¡ª Deepika (@dpkasagar) March 2, 2020
Italy had already reported around 300 cases by then.
@MoHFW_INDIA
Twitter/PTI
Founder and CEO of The Quint, Ritu Kapur, also slammed the officials at Delhi's IGI airport for not taking adequate steps to screen passengers.
Ritu Kapur tweeted, 'Just landed back from an international trip and was NOT screened at any point ... while reports say - All international passengers to be screened as 29 people test positive for coronavirus in India .. cont¡¯d'
Just landed back from an international trip and was NOT screened at any point ... while reports say - All international passengers to be screened as 29 people test positive for coronavirus in India .. cont¡¯d https://t.co/mPSEVh5VQv
¡ª Ritu Kapur (@kapur_ritu) March 5, 2020
'Was made to fill out two copies of a form which does NOT ask travellers which countries they have visited in the past month - only port of departure.'
'The poor immigration officers - who need to come in contact with thousands of passports - did not have a hand sanitiser, nor gloves etc,' added Rit Kapur.
Soon after the tweet went viral, the Delhi airport Twitter account responses saying, 'Dear ma'am, As per the direction of MoCA, screening of all the international arriving passengers is being done by APHO officials. Only on submission of a copy of the stamped form, the person is being allowed to enter the country by immigration officials.'
Dear ma'am,
¡ª Delhi Airport (@DelhiAirport) March 5, 2020
As per the direction of MoCA, screening of all the international arriving passengers is being done by APHO officials. Only on submission of a copy of the stamped form, the person is being allowed to enter the country by immigration officials. @arvsingh01
While passengers claim the airport staff's inadequate screening method, other reports suggest that as many as 240,064 foreign passengers who entered India through New Delhi¡¯s Indira Gandhi International airport have so far been scanned for the novel coronavirus at the airport since January 17, reports HT.
PTI
According to NDTV, at airports, protective gears like surgical masks and gloves are being provided to crew members and passengers. There are multiple hand sanitising points at terminals.
On international flights, boarding of passengers for the next flight should begin only after thermal scanning and immigration clearance of disembarking passengers is completed, aviation body DGCA said. In case any passenger is suspected to be infected, the disinfection process must be carried out on that plane.
