Italian health officials have announced plans to test every passenger departing from Rome airport for COVID-19. The move is believed to follow the positive results of a pilot trial, wherein 25,000 travellers arriving from countries that have high infection rates were swabbed. (Source: Pixabay)With numerous protocols in place, countries around the world are making sure they do everything in their power to contain the spread of the the COVID-19 infection. In Italy, for instance, you will be subjected to a test to make sure you have not contracted the infection, before you leave the country. And if you are found to be COVID-19 positive, you will be made to stay back until you are fit to fly out again.
According to a report published in The Independent, Italian health officials have announced plans to test every passenger departing from Rome airport for COVID-19. The move is believed to follow the positive results of a pilot trial, wherein 25,000 travellers arriving from countries that have high infection rates were swabbed. In fact, passengers from Spain, Malta, Greece and Croatia have been tested since mid-August, after Italian citizens returning from these countries tested positive, thereby leading to a surge in new cases in the country.
The outlet reports that under this plan, passengers who have visited Italy, and who test positive before flying out to their home country, will be denied boarding. They will have to stay in quarantine in the capital city Rome, and accommodation will be provided to them.
“They would be quarantined until they test negative. Before flying, people will stop off at our airport drive-in test centre and get a result in 30 minutes. So, instead of arriving an hour before a flight, you come two hours before. Our ambition is that everyone flies out with a ticket and a negative result in their pocket. If you are negative you fly, if you are positive you don’t,” a spokesperson for the health authority in Lazio — home region of the Italian capital — was quoted as saying.
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