Dubai/New Delhi: The Indian nationals cleared by the UAE health authorities and found to be asymptomatic will be allowed to fly back home in one of India's biggest ever repatriation exercises, the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi has said ahead of the first set of flights on Thursday.
On Monday, the Indian government announced plans to begin a phased repatriation of its citizens stranded abroad from May 7. Air India will operate 64 flights from May 7 to May 13 to bring back around 15,000 Indian nationals stranded abroad amid the COVID-19-induced lockdown, India's Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Tuesday.
The first two special flights that will operate from Thursday will evacuate Keralites stranded in UAE, Indian Ambassador to the UAE Pavan Kapoor has said.
"All departing passengers will have to undergo medical screening and IgM/IgG (immunoglobins) test at the departure airport and only those cleared by the UAE health authorities and found to be asymptomatic will be allowed to board the plane,” the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi said on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had strongly objected to the Centre's decision to fly in Indians stuck abroad without conducting any test for the virus before take off. He termed the move dangerous and said it could stoke a massive spread of the disease in the country.
Undertaking to undergo quarantine
According to the embassy, all passengers will be required to sign an undertaking to undergo compulsory quarantine at the destination of arrival and bear the cost of the same. However, clarity on the number of days of quarantine is yet to emerge.
Each passenger, at the time of boarding would be handed over a safety kit containing 2 three-layered face masks, 2 pairs of gloves and pouches/small bottles of hand sanitizers. While on board the flight, the health protocol of the Ministry of Civil Aviation of India will be strictly followed, said the embassy.
The passenger lists for the two flights on May 7 have been finalised by the Embassy/Consulate and sent to Air India Express for issue of tickets.
The Embassy/Consulate will continue conveying the details of further special flights as and when they are announced by the Government of India, over the next few days.
Less than 2,000 Indians wishing to return home from the UAE will be flown to six Indian states in the first week of India's biggest ever repatriation exercise named Vande Bharat Mission sans social distancing and COVID-19 tests, the Gulf News reported.
Only those cleared by the UAE health authorities and found to be asymptomatic will be allowed to board the plane.
The short-listed applicants, who were contacted by the Indian missions on Tuesday to purchase tickets for the first two flights to Kerala on Thursday, told the Gulf News that the tickets are priced around AED 725 to AED 750 (over Rs 15,000).
Two flights to Kerala on May 7
Air India Express which is set to operate the first two flights to Kerala on Thursday will operate its Boeing 737-800 aircraft, with a seating capacity of 186 economy class seats, the report added.
With nine seats reserved for isolation, only 177 passengers would be flown, it said.
The Indian expatriate community of approximately 3.42 million is reportedly the largest ethnic community in the UAE constituting roughly about 30 per cent of the country's population, according to information available on the Indian Embassy website.
Aviation Ministry's site crashed
Meanwhile, the website of the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MOCA) crashed on Wednesday afternoon due to unprecedented traffic.
"The MOCA website is down due to unprecedented traffic. Team NIC (National Informatics Centre) is working on it. Details regarding evacuation flights will be put up on the Air India website soon. Kindly check there directly. Our apologies for the inconvenience caused," the ministry said on Twitter at 12.22 PM on Wednesday.
