Two Covid +ve fliers from UK go missing at Delhi airport, traced later

New Delhi, Dec 24: Two Covid-19-positive passengers from the UK who landed in Delhi on Tuesday managed to reach Punjab's Ludhiana and Andhra Pradesh, respectively, before being traced.

However, the 46-year-old man who went to Ludhiana was brought back to Delhi on Wednesday morning.

Meanwhile, the process to bring back the passenger who reached Andhra has started after he was traced on Wednesday afternoon.

Five Covid-positive flyers from the UK went untraceable after landing at the Delhi airport on Tuesday.

While three of them were traced by Tuesday night and admitted to Lok Nayak hospital in the capital, one managed to reach Ludhiana while another reached Andhra Pradesh, before they were brought back on Wednesday, according to the Indian Express report.

A senior health official from Punjab, requesting anonymity, said there was a clear lapse, as the man had managed to travel despite testing positive. "He is from Amritsar but came to Ludhiana as his nephew works in a hospital, and he decided to get admitted here.

Around 4.30 pm Tuesday, we received a call from the authorities in Delhi that a man from Punjab had slipped out... As per the protocol, we started looking for him. Around 5.30 pm, he reached Fortis Hospital with his wife, who had accompanied him from the UK. He was isolated and we also isolated two of his closest contacts - his wife and nephew," said the official.

The Ludhiana administration eventually agreed to shift the patient to Delhi on Wednesday. "We were not in favor of shifting the patient back to Delhi because it could lead to spread of the infection... The patient should have been put under institutional quarantine in Delhi itself. We are in the process of tracing his other contacts too," said the official from Ludhiana.

Notably, the flights from the UK are suspended temporarily till December 31 or till further orders.

All the passengers travelling from or transiting through airports in the UK and disembarking in India would be subjected to RT-PCR test on arrival.

In the case of a positive sample, the SOP recommended spike gene-based RT-PCR test.

Passengers testing positive will be isolated in an institutional isolation facility in a separate (isolation) unit, coordinated by the respective state health authorities.

Necessary action to send the samples to the National Institute of Virology, Pune, or any other appropriate lab for genomic sequencing will be initiated at the facility level.

If the genomic sequencing indicates the presence of the new variant of SARS-CoV 2 then the patient will be kept in the separate isolation unit and treated as per the clinical protocol.

Those who are found negative on testing at the airport would be advised quarantine at home. Prior to check-in, the traveller will be explained about this SOP and in-flight announcements would also be made.