Vande Bharat Mission: Over 300 people arrive from London, former top TN official among returnees

As many as 333 people arrived here on Friday from London by an Air India flight as part of the Vande Bharat Mission to bring back Indian nationals stranded in various countries, airport officials said.

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Former Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan was among the returnees, they said. There were 202 men, 126 women and five infants and this was the ninth evacuation flight that landed here from the United Kingdom, they said.

Last night, 167 passengers (110 men and 57 women) arrived from Manila, the capital of the Philippines. Throat and nasal swab samples were taken from the passengers for coronavirus testing and later they were accommodated in different hotels and the premises of an educational institution in a city suburb.

Of the over 1,700 returnees till date since May 9, nine have so far tested positive for the contagion. Dubai, Kuala Lumpur and Muscat were among the other cities from where the flights originated.