2,827 air passengers have arrived in Uttar Pradesh: Official

As many as 2,827 air passengers have arrived in Uttar Pradesh and of them 2,007 are residents of the state, an official said on Tuesday, a day after domestic air travel services resumed after a gap of two months in the country.

Scheduled commercial passenger flights were suspended on March 25, when the Centre imposed a nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.

"As many as 2,827 air passengers came of which 2,007 are residents of Uttar Pradesh, and they have been sent into home quarantine for 14 days,” Principal Secretary Medical and Health Amit Mohan Prasad said.

The 2,827 people are the number of passengers who arrived on the first day of resumption of air travel on Monday.

Data has been collected from the web link that was provided to passengers following resumption of domestic air travel, Prasad said.

He said of the total, 820 air passengers have informed that “they will go back and hence, they were not sent into quarantine".

The Uttar Pradesh government had said air travellers to the state will be home quarantined for 14 days unless they are staying for less than a week or clear the coronavirus test earlier.

On the quarantining process, Prasad on Sunday had said passengers will have to follow the laid-down home quarantine protocol. They can get themselves tested for the virus on the sixth day from their arrival and end their quarantine if the results come out negative, he had said

If passengers do not have adequate facilities at home, they will be kept at a quarantine centre, the officer had said.

Outsiders on visits of less than a week to the state need not go into quarantine if they furnish details of their return journey, he had said, adding that but they will not be allowed to enter containment zones.

On the current COVID-19 situation in the state, the principal secretary said 18.33 per cent of the total infected are in the age group of 0-20 years; 52.63 per cent in the age group of 21-40 years; 22.76 per cent in the age group of 41-60 years.

Prasad said 6.29 per cent of the total infected are above 60 years.

There are 6,497 confirmed novel coronavirus cases in the state.

He also claimed that number of elderlies getting infected has come down because of the intervention of village and mohalla monitoring committees.

Prasad said that strengthening home quarantine of migrant labourers will help in controlling the situation.

"There is no need to panic about COVID-19. There should be no ill-feeling against a patient. Anyone who tests positive, should get treatment done, he/she will recover from the disease. Problem arises, when there is delay in testing, leading to complications during treatment,” he said.

One should cover the face with a mask, 'gamcha' or 'dupatta' and adhere to social distancing, and regularly wash hands," Prasad said.