326 stranded people return from London, taken to quarantine centres

Team Udayavani, May 11, 2020, 11:23 AM IST

Bengaluru: As many as 326 people stuck in London due to the COVID-19 lockdown arrived at the Kempegowda International Airport here in the early hours of Monday.

After their arrival by an Air India evacuation flight at 4.45 am, a team of corona warriors checked the passengers’ health condition before letting them go to the designated quarantine centres.

All the 326 passengers were found to be asymptomatic and put up in hotels as chosen by them, a senior Karnataka government official said.

The state administration has designated certain resorts and hotels as quarantine centres, especially for those stranded in foreign countries.

Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa had instructed the officials that those returning from foreign countries and other states should not be allowed to mingle with others without undergoing 14 days quarantine and mandatory COVID-19 swab tests.

Soon after the passengers completed the initial tests, a BMTC bus took them to the designated quarantine centres.

Those willing to quarantine in five-star hotels will have to bear the expenses.

The health workers took extra precautionary measures while screening the patients. They were asked to download Quarantine Watch, a mobile application developed by the Karnataka government to monitor those in quarantine so that they do not flout the norms.

The application switches on the geo-positioning system of the phone and makes it mandatory for the quarantined person to take a selfie every hour till night at the designated place and send it to the government.

Those violating quarantine norms face punishment.