Seek experts opinion on quarantine of international flyers: HC

CHENNAI: Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the Union government to take experts opinion on institutional quarantining of all international passengers flying into the country to prevent the spread of the new Covid-19 strain. The first Bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy passed the directions while hearing the plea moved by advocate B Ramkumar Adityan. 

The advocate sought a direction to the authorities to announce mandatory seven days institutional quarantine for all the asymptomatic passengers arriving from any country. The petitioner also said that the passengers have to take RT-PCR test between the 5th and 7th day from the date of landing at their own expense and be sent home if the results turned out negative.

“During February and March, we focussed only on passengers coming from China. But the virus also spread from other countries’ passengers,” the lawyer said. Therefore, the government must ensure that all passengers travelling from any country in India would be subjected to RT-PCR test on arrival, he added.

Moreover, on average, it takes up to six days for an infected person to exhibit symptoms and in some cases, it could even take 14 days. Hence, the present procedure will not help in tracking asymptomatic passengers, he said.

The court was presented that all measures are being adopted to screen the flyers. The Bench then directed the Union government to take expert opinion on institutional quarantine for all international passengers landing in the country to prevent the spread of the new strain of the virus and report to the court by January 18.