New Covid Strain: Chaos at Delhi airport, UK passengers stuck over eight hours to get report

Published: Wed 23 Dec 2020, 1:14 PM

Last updated: Wed 23 Dec 2020, 1:15 PM

Passengers arriving from the United Kingdom are facing a wait of more than 8 hours to get their Covid-19 test report even after travelling for a distance of around 6,700 kilometres.

As per Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), passengers from the UK will only be permitted to exit the airport when the entire passenger's Covid report out.

Airport official said that the delay due to the procedural system for the UK passengers.

"As per the SOPs set by the administration, the sample of the Covid collection in a mass level of the UK passengers but allow them to exit the airport only when the reports of all passengers are out," an airport official told ANI.

The Government of India has suspended flight operations from midnight of December 22 to and from the UK after new covid virus strain outbreak in the country.

Around 500 passengers from the UK who landed at Delhi airport last night are stuck in the chaos at the airport.

In the wake of the government's directive to conduct mandatory RT-PCR testing for all passengers and crew arriving from the United Kingdom, the organisation has been tasked with conducting COVID-19 tests at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport.

Passengers are alleging that they are waiting for the last eight hours to get their test report.

"We are at the airport since last night and now it's over eight hours we here at the airport waiting for permission to go outside the airport, social distancing is clearly being violated at the airport," a woman passenger told ANI.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation on Monday had announced, in the light of the new strain of coronavirus found in the UK, that the flights from and to the UK stand temporarily suspended from December 23 to 31, 2020 or till further orders.

The government has also issued a direction that all the passengers coming from the UK during the intervening period from December 21 to 23 will have to undergo RT-PCR tests at the airports of arrival.