Passenger on IndiGo's Chennai-Coimbatore flight tests positive for COVID-19

Chennai: A young man who flew to Coimbatore from Chennai on board an IndiGo flight on Monday is among those who tested positive for COVID-19. Overall, four passengers in airport quarantine have tested positive for the novel coronavirus disease.

The man, aged 24, who is a native of Coimbatore, had left Chennai on board flight 6E 381 on Monday night. Sources in Coimbatore, said, he was among the 93 passengers whose swab samples were collected upon arrival.

"On Tuesday, his samples returned positive following which he was admitted to the ESI Hospital. Since he came from Chennai incidentally a coronavirus hotspot his name was added to the tally of patients in the State capital. As on date, Coimbatore has zero ‘active’ coronavirus cases," an official said.

Asked how he managed to pass scrutiny at the Chennai airport, an official said, "He was asymptomatic and hence passed muster. We check all passengers for symptoms and use thermal scanners at the airport before departure. Downloading of Aarogya Setu is only recommended and not mandatory. We are not sure if this passenger had downloaded it."

Since domestic air traffic opened up, Tamil Nadu has limited its inbound flights to 25 per day, primarily because the State finds it a challenge to test thousands of passengers who would be arriving at the airports.As per protocol, all asymptomatic passengers have to be under home quarantine for 14 days and visitors have to opt for institutional quarantine. All of them are stamped with the Quarantine seal on their hands with indelible ink.

Meanwhile, 646 persons have tested positive for COVID-19, taking Tamil Nadu’s tally to 17,728. Of this, Chennai alone saw 510 cases.

Hours after it came to light that the passenger on board the IndiGo flight had tested positive, the airlines said no one else was seated near the passenger. “The passenger who tested positive was seated on board the aircraft with all precautionary measures, including face mask, face shield and gloves, as were the other passengers. No one else was seated in his vicinity, significantly reducing the possibility of transmission,” IndiGo said in a statement. The airlines added that its aircraft are regularly sanitised as part of a standard operating procedure. The aircraft on which the passenger travelled was also disinfected. All crew members of the said flight have been grounded for 14 days.