Kolkata: Mandatory thermal screening on arrival at Kolkata airport has been extended to flyers with recent travel history to Italy, Iran and South Korea — the latest novel coronavirus transmission hotspots — along with Germany, Japan and Malaysia. This increases the number of countries on the Covid-19 watchlist at the airport to 12.
Immigration officers have been instructed to check the passports of all arriving international flyers and send passengers with Schengen visa or travel history to any of the 12 countries on the nCoV watch list back for thermal screening before being allowed to formally enter the country. Schengen visa allows visitors entry to 26 European states, including Italy. In addition, all passengers arriving by Singapore Airlines from Singapore, IndiGo Airlines flights from Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi in Vietnam and Malindo Air and AirAsia flights from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia will undergo thermal screening checks before they proceed to immigration.
“We have been screening passengers in flights arriving from China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The travel documents of other international passengers were being checked by immigration authorities. Now, the list has been expanded to include Italy, Iran, South Korea, Germany, Japan and Malaysia,” a senior airport official said. While flyers with symptoms of flu will be sent directly to the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Beliaghata for quarantine, those having such travel history but no symptoms will be advised home quarantine for two weeks.
IndiGo — that has cancelled its flights to China’s Guangzhou from Kolkata indefinitely — has started rationalizing its daily direct flights to Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. From Monday, they reduced the frequency to these cities in Vietnam. “Instead of daily flights, we shall operate flights to these cities on alternate days. In the next 10 days, there will be six flights to Hanoi and four to Hochi Minh City,” an official said. Singapore Airlines, though, has no plans to immediately cut down flights.
03/03/20 Tamaghna Banerjee/Times of India
To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline
Immigration officers have been instructed to check the passports of all arriving international flyers and send passengers with Schengen visa or travel history to any of the 12 countries on the nCoV watch list back for thermal screening before being allowed to formally enter the country. Schengen visa allows visitors entry to 26 European states, including Italy. In addition, all passengers arriving by Singapore Airlines from Singapore, IndiGo Airlines flights from Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi in Vietnam and Malindo Air and AirAsia flights from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia will undergo thermal screening checks before they proceed to immigration.
“We have been screening passengers in flights arriving from China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The travel documents of other international passengers were being checked by immigration authorities. Now, the list has been expanded to include Italy, Iran, South Korea, Germany, Japan and Malaysia,” a senior airport official said. While flyers with symptoms of flu will be sent directly to the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Beliaghata for quarantine, those having such travel history but no symptoms will be advised home quarantine for two weeks.
IndiGo — that has cancelled its flights to China’s Guangzhou from Kolkata indefinitely — has started rationalizing its daily direct flights to Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. From Monday, they reduced the frequency to these cities in Vietnam. “Instead of daily flights, we shall operate flights to these cities on alternate days. In the next 10 days, there will be six flights to Hanoi and four to Hochi Minh City,” an official said. Singapore Airlines, though, has no plans to immediately cut down flights.
03/03/20 Tamaghna Banerjee/Times of India
0 comments:
Post a Comment