Covid-19 outbreak

international flights

KIA

My daughter came from Birmingham via Dubai in an Emirates flight on Wednesday. She was in a state of panic because she said the screening was not thorough – A passenger’s father who didn’t wish to be identified

Kempegowda International Airport

Bengaluru

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Bengaluru’s contact with international cities around the world has shrunk following the. Barring three flights to and from destinations in the Middle East region (Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Muscat, and Male ) flight services have been called off due to travel bans imposed by the government to contain Covid-19 and poor load factor.On Wednesday, all other flight services were suspended except those to and from Addis Ababa, Muscat, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.On such a day when international passengers have reduced substantially, the Karnataka government annou­nced that it was going to intro­duce stamping of incoming international passengers who would be home quarantined for 14 days to ensure that they strictly follow the self-isolation procedure. The specially designed stamp with indelible ink would have the last date of the quarantine stamped on the passenger’s hand.But last week, passengers coming insaid that they were very disappointed with the screening procedures at the arrival area in. The droves of passengers, not being mindful of social distancing, pushing and trying to get ahead, haphazard queues, no personnel to control crowds and lack of announcements over the PA system to maintain distance has many passengers worried.Several passengers who got off an international flight on Wednesday morning complained that they saw huge crowds in the airport, from the time the flight landed till the time they left the(KIA). Some of the travellers and their families were aghast that the passengers were not told about self-isolation and they were just waved through after checking their temperature and giving them some forms to fill.Shantha Rao (named changed), a woman in her early 70s returned from the US after meeting her sons last week. She says, “My temperature was not checked. We were given self-declaration forms to fill but I wonder how many people will honestly declare that they have a cough or a cold.”A parent of a girl who landed from the UK said, “My daughter came from Birmingham tovia Dubai in an Emirates flight on Wednesday morning. She was in a state of panic because she said the screening was not thorough. “Besides the lack of adequate screenings at the airport, the girl from Birmingham and her parents were worried about the large crowds at the airport, with no concept of personal space, leave alone keeping the mandated two-metre or six-feet space between two persons. “ No one is practicing social distancing at the airport. Though it is the responsibility of citizens to follow advisories by health professionals and the government, the crowds are uncontrolled at arrivals,” said the mother.The parent also said that her daughter had to tell people to maintain distance. The father said, “She was worried because there were passengers from several countries like UK and Dubai on her flight. Citizens should be told about social distancing and some announcements should be made on the flight too. There didn’t seem to be any announcements about social distancing at the airport.”The family complained about this to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) commissioner’s office. “We have also brought it to the notice of the health department. They have said that the screening process was based on categories of the COVID-19 disease as mandated by the authorities. They said that they would take this up with the KIA authorities,” the passenger added.Mahesh Rao, (name changed) parent of a student who came from Ireland said that his daughter was extremely worried about facing a screening at the Bengaluru airport. “But she was totally disappointed when she landed at the KIA. They just checked her temperature and asked her to fill forms. No one there spoke to her to know her travel history, where she had been, what was her flight path, where she was going. Her local address was not scanned. There was too much reliance on self-declaration. Also, they were not told that what they have said in their self-declaration form was binding and if it was not true, it would mean putting many lives in danger and if there was a fatality, it would be tantamount to murder. No information of home quarantine was given either.”There has been a huge hue and cry over imposing screening even for the domestic flights. Speaking about it Dr Sudhakar K, State Medical Education Minister on Tuesday said, “As of now all international flights are being screened. Regarding screening of domestic flight passengers, we need to work with the Union government and see what can be done. With respect to international flights from the US and other COVID-19 hit countries, the Centre has to take a decision. Banning flights from European countries was a central government decision and not ours.”However, the health officials inspected the KIA on Tuesday and said that everything was in order. There is also a plan to identify a hotel near the airport to facilitate quarantine facility for international passengers.When the KIA was asked to respond about passenger complaints with regard to screening procedures, a BIAL spokesperson said, “All announcements on COVID-19 at the Bengaluru Airport are based on directions from DGCA and Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, made at intervals mandated by these departments.”Wednesday’s notification from Pankaj Kumar Pandey, the Commissioner, Health and Family Welfare Department, said that the international passengers would be separated into symptomatic (Group A) and asymptomatic passengers. Group A passengers were being taken to designated hospitals for necessary treatment while asymptomatic passengers, depending on the port or origin, would be either taken to the quarantine centre or permitted to go home quarantine.The notification said that at the mass quarantine centre, the asymptomatic passengers would be divided into Moderate Risk (Group B) and High Risk (Group C) categories. The Moderate Risk passengers were being kept at the mass quarantine centre for medical observation. The low risk passengers were being sent home for 14 days of strict quarantine, with the hand stamp, said the Commissioner.Grounding reality: Of the 24 international routes which operate flights from KIA, a majority of them connect cities in the Middle East region. There are nine destinations to the Middle East (Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Doha, Dubai, Jeddah, Kuwait, Muscat, Riyadh, Sharjah), five to South East Asia (Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Don Mueang, Phuket ) four to Europe (Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London and Paris). The other destinations include Colombo, Male, Mauritius, Hongkong, Addis Ababa and San Francisco.The Covid-19 outbreak has led to a huge slump in the operations of airlines and the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) is no exception. In the last couple of months, international air traffic has seen a huge dip with traffic falling by 20% in February and almost by 50% in March.