Kochi: An Air India Express flight from Kuala Lumpur, carrying 177 Indians stranded in Malaysia in the wake of COVID-19, landed at Cochin International Airport at 10.11pm on Sunday.
The returnees, except pregnant women, went into quarantine after completing medical inspections and immigration formalities at the airport.
Special taxis and state-owned buses were pressed into service to transfer passengers to government-run quarantine centres and homes.
Sunday's was the first flight from the South East Asian country to Kerala after India launched the Vande Bharat mission to repatriate Indians stranded abroad four days ago.
The flight had 2 infants, 6 pregnant women, 11 elderlys and 18 students on board. Three people with serious medical conditions were also brought back home on the flight.
Eight flights have brought 1,410 persons to Kerala's Kochi and Kozhikode airports so far.
The mission had started on Thursday with two flights bringing 363 Keralites from Abdu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates to Kochi and Kozhikode.
On Friday, two flights from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain brought back 325 persons to Kochi. Three flights ferried 545 passengers from Kuwait, Oman and Qatar to Kochi on Saturday.
On Sunday, the operation of a flight from Doha to Thiruvananthapuram was cancelled as it did not get landing permission from the Qatar government. The flight was expected to bring home 181 persons from Qatar, including 15 pregnant women.
On Sunday, Indian Navy ship INS Jalashwa, carrying 698 from the Maldives, arrived at Cochin Port. The group comprises 595 males and 103 females. Of this, 14 are children below 10 years and 19 pregnant women.
Though most passengers are from Kerala and Tamil Nadu, there were repatriates of 18 other states and Union Territories also in the ship, which began its journey from Male to Kochi on Friday night.
