Kerala CM affirms 'extensive arrangement' on Vande Bharat returnees as COVID tally rises

As Vande Bharat Mission is in progress with inward flights scheduled to Kerala due to a large number of expatriates returning from abro in wake of COVID-19, Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan has said that his government is making "extensive arrangements" at all airports in state for returning travellers.

While dressing media on Thursday, Chief Minister said, " Foreign Ministry has scheduled 111 chartered flights and 43 flights under Vande Bharat Mission to Kerala from June 25 to 30. Yesterday itself, 72 flights arrived from overseas. We are expecting 40-50 flights per day from tomorrow."

"re are more flights to Kochi and Kozhikode. Taking this into account, extensive arrangements are being me at every airport. Antibody kits for conducting COVID tests have been delivered and special booths have been set up," ded Vijayan.

As per quarantine protocols, arriving passengers are t allowed to visit relatives or or places. passengers must directly go to ir respective homes. "Those coming from abro should strictly follow quarantine rms. Police have been directed to look into matter," Cheif Minister said.

Kerala chief minister also insisted people keep a track of ir travel history as it would help in contact tracing in event of m getting infected by coronavirus.

"People need to te down ir travel history in a 'break chain' diary or ir phones, including vehicle in which y h travelled, vehicle number, time, name of hotel or shops visited and time of visit etc. This will later help health workers in identifying route map of a person in case he gets infected and trace ir contacts," he said.

Anticipating a possible rise in number of COVID-19 cases due to incoming travellers, government has devised a multi-level strategy such as Plan A, B, and C, involving hospitals and Firstline Treatment centres of state for treatment of COVID-19 patients. In consolidation, Plan A, B and C toger involve arrangement of 15,975 beds in 171 COVID Firstline Treatment Centres in state. As per plan A, 29 COVID related hospitals and 29 COVID Firstline Treatment Centres have been reied in 14 districts of state.

Kerala h reported over a hundred COVID-19 cases for seventh consecutive day on Thursday, taking total number of infections in state to 3,726. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said 123 new cases were confirmed out of which 84 came from abro, 33 from or states while six contracted disease through ir contacts. 1,761 are active cases in state undergoing treatment whereas 1,943 have been cured of virus. state has witnessed 22 deaths due to COVID-19 as per Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. 

(With ANI inputs)