Domestic flight operations resume in Andhra Pradesh. Here's quarantine rules for flyers
Andhra Pradesh has resumed domestic flight operations at Visakhpatnam airport from today, amid the fourth phase of the lockdown. People at the airport were seen maintaining social distancing. Thermal screening of passengers was also being done by authorities.
SpiceJet flight from Bangalore landed in Gannavaram of Krishna District today morning at 7.30 am, as domestic passenger flight services resumed in the state. All passengers, on arrival, were sent on special buses for home quarantine.
Meanwhile, the flight returned to Bangalore at around 8.30 am. Passengers returning to Bangalore were allowed only after sanitisation and thermal screening. Vijayawada Sub Collector Dhyanchand inspected the arrangements made at the airport.
All scheduled commercial passenger flights were suspended in India since March 25 after the Central government imposed a lockdown to contain COVID-19.
Guidelines for the flyers and airlines issued by Andhra Pradesh
Department of Infrastructure and Investments:
- All those desirous of flying into Andhra Pradesh must enrol on the Spandana website (spandana.ap.gov.in)
- Only if the clearance from Spandana website has been obtained must the flyer buy the tickets
- Airlines not to permit booking if passengers have no clearance from the state via the Spandana portal
- All flyers to undergo screening at the airports (on arrival) for symptoms
- Symptomatic persons would have to undergo institutional quarantine
- At institutional quarantine, arrivals will be tested on arrival once and weekly thereafter
- If negative status persists for the second test, arriving passenger can go home and quarantine for 7 days
- Asymptomatic arrivals have two options based on where their journey originated:
- Arrivals from high incidence places (Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, New Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh) to undergo compulsory institutional quarantine for 7 days. After seven days, if tests show negative, passengers sent home for home quarantine
- If arrivals are from low incidence areas and are showing no symptoms, they are to home quarantine after giving swab sample that is to be collected upon arrival
- If the swab samples of the arrivals on home quarantine test positive, there is a set protocol of contact tracing and testing that will follow.
Exception:
Andhra Pradesh state health department has exempted the following from mandatory institutional quarantine on arrival:
- pregnant women,
- children under 10 years of age, people above 65 years of age arriving from abroad on Vande Bharat mission flights.
- Home Quarantine allowed to these exempted travellers after the swab samples are collected from them.
Also exempted from the compulsory quarantine:
- patients travelling to India on a health emergency or
- those arriving due to a death in the family or
- those returning after acquiring health treatment abroad
(With inputs from ANI)
