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

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

While addressing the media on Thursday, the Chief Minister said, "The Foreign Ministry has scheduled 111 chartered flights and 43 flights under the 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."

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

As per the quarantine protocols, the arriving passengers are not allowed to visit relatives or other places. The passengers must directly go to their respective homes. "Those coming from abroad should strictly follow the quarantine norms. Police have been directed to look into the matter," the Cheif Minister said.

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

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

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

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

(With ANI inputs)