‘Will talk to airport authorities’: Delhi health minister on Covid-19 positive UK flyers slipping out
The Delhi government had said on Tuesday that those arriving from the UK were being traced and tested and an institutional quarantine facility was being set up separately for the infected cases at Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital. The facility is away from the main Covid-19 wards in the hospital.
Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain on Thursday said that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led government in the national capital will speak to airport authorities amid reports that two Covid-19-infected flyers from the United Kingdom had fled from the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport.
The Delhi government had said on Tuesday that those arriving from the UK were being traced and tested and an institutional quarantine facility was being set up separately for the infected cases at Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital. The facility is away from the main Covid-19 wards in the hospital.
As per reports, the two passengers from the UK landed in Delhi on Tuesday and further travelled to Punjab and Andhra Pradesh despite testing positive for the coronavirus disease.
One of the passengers, Mary Winfred Ann Parrie, is a private school teacher from Rajahmundry city in Andhra Pradesh. She tested positive at the Delhi airport health centre and was further handed over to the Safdarjung Hospital. However, Ann Parie fled from the hospital and reached Rajahmundry via train in the wee hours on Thursday, reports said.
According to news agency PTI, the passengers have been traced and “brought back” to Delhi.
On being asked about these two incidents at a press briefing, the Delhi health minister said, “Flight operations and security is under the airport authorities... but, a person who has tested positive, should not have moved out. ”
Jain had said on Wednesday that those arriving in Delhi from the UK in the last few weeks, were being rigorously traced, and tested if anyone is showing slightest of coronavirus-like symptoms.
“The Delhi government is on alert in the wake of a mutated coronavirus strain detected in the UK. The situation is being closely monitored, as this strain is more transmissible,” he said.
The national capital logged 871 fresh coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours which pushed the overall tally to nearly 620,000. A total of 10,347 people have died and 601,268 have recovered. Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said that vaccine to combat the virus will be first administered to 5.1 million residents who fall under the Central government’s “priority category’ adding that each person will be given two doses of the vaccine.
(With agency inputs)