New Delhi: May 24, 2020. Coronavirus India Updates: With nearly 7,000 fresh cases, the Covid-19 tally in India rose to 1,31,868 on Sunday, a day before the country reopens its skies for over 350 domestic flights after nearly two months. At least 147 fatalities were recorded within a span of 24 hours, taking the total to 3,867.
While the number of active cases rose to 73,560, around 54,440 people have recovered and one patient has migrated to another country, the latest bulletin released by the Ministry of Health and Welfare read. Of the total death toll of 3,867, Maharashtra tops the tally with 1,577 deaths, followed by Gujarat at 829, Madhya Pradesh at 281, West Bengal at 269 and Delhi at 231.
Flight carrying 93 Indians stranded in UK arrives in Indore
As many as 93 Indians, who were stranded in the United Kingdom amid the lockdown, arrived on an Air India flight in Indore on Sunday morning. As part of the Centre’s ‘Vande Bharat’ mission, the flight from London reached arrived at the city via Mumbai at 8.04 am, Indore’s Devi Ahilyabai Holkar International Airport Director Aryama Sanyal told news agency PTI.
A health checkup of the passengers was conducted and their belongings were sanitised, the official added. The passengers will be kept under the mandatory 14-day quarantine, she said.
Under #VandeBharathMission, 3224 Indians had been repatriated from the UK by 10 flights till 21 May. We owe a great debt of gratitude to @DrSJaishankar @HardeepSPuri @harshvshringla @airindiain @MEAIndia for their support. @RuchiGhanashyam @CGI_Bghm @IndiaInScotland pic.twitter.com/xZ98qFWTDV
— India in the UK (@HCI_London) May 23, 2020
With over 350 domestic flights, Delhi airport to resume operations from tomorrow
With the country set to reopen its skies, as many as 380 flights are scheduled to resume operations at the Delhi airport on Monday, a senior official said.
“Delhi airport will be handling around 380 domestic flights on Monday. There will be 190 departures and around 190 arrivals,” the official was quoted as saying by PTI.
Delhi Airport is all set to open for commercial flight operations after a two-month shutdown, and we have implemented several unique initiatives to ensure passengers safety without compromising their comfort and experience. Our teams have worked round-the-clock to sanitise the vast terminal… and DIAL will continue… encouraging passengers to maintain social distancing at the airport,” Videh Kumar Jaipuriar, Delhi International Airport Limited CEO said.
Ill-advised to reopen airports in red zone: Maharashtra home minister
Even as airlines prepared to resume operations, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Sunday said it is “extremely ill-advised” to reopen airports in red zone amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Taking to Twitter, he said: “Its extremely ill-advised to reopen airports in red zone. Mere thermal scanning of passengers inadequate w/o swabs. Impossible to have autos/cabs/buses ply in current circumstances. Adding positive passenger will add Covid stress to red zone.”
“Getting passengers to come from a green zone to a red one putting them to risk of exposure doesn’t make sense. Keeping a busy airport up & running with all Covid-safety measures will need huge staff presence and compound risk in the red zone,” he added.
3,300 J&K residents evacuated from Maharashtra
Around 3,300 residents of Jammu and Kashmir, including 1,200 students who were stranded in different parts of Maharashtra, have returned home in four Shramik Special trains in the past 10 days, an official spokesperson said.
This is the highest number of Shramik Special trains deployed by a single state for the evacuation of J&K residents stranded there, he added.
“Around 600 stranded people from J&K including 200 students left for Udhampur railway station (J&K) from Bandra terminus, Mumbai Saturday evening in the fourth and last Shramik Special train (for JK residents there). The train carried the J&K residents who were mostly stranded in two key districts of Mumbai city and Mumbai suburban,” he was quoted as saying by PTI on Saturday.
