90 health counters at IGI; things now normal, says Puri

Union Civil Aviation Miniter Hardeep Singh Puri on Sunday said that there are 90 operational health counters at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here for secondary screening of incoming passengers.

In a tweet, the minister also said that it has been "difficult" two days but things are normal now.

"It has been a difficult two days, but with 90 health counters operational for secondary screening of incoming passengers at Delhi Airport, things are back to normal," he said.

Passengers had to wait for hours on Saturday after the government decided to carry out mandatory thermal screening of passengers from the UK, the US and Australia at the Delhi airport.

In a letter, addressed to all officials concerned, Joint Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Alok Saxena, had said: "In view of local transmission of the disease, increase in number of cases and deaths being reported in Australia, the UK and USA, it has now been to expand the universal screening for all passengers coming from Australia, the United Kingdom and USA and risk profiling them for either quarantine or isolation based on risk assessment."

Also, amid the growing number of positive coronavirus cases in the country, the government on Thursday announced that no international flight will be allowed to land in India starting Sunday, March 22 for one week.

As many as 13,049 people have lost their lives across the globe and the deadly virus has affected 3.7 lakh people.

The number of coronavirus-affected people in India reached 324 on Sunday with reports of at lest six deaths. IANS