Indira Gandhi Airport starts random testing amid surge in Covid-19 cases

Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) in India has started conducting random Covid-19 tests of passengers as the number of coronavirus cases is on the rise again in the country.

The tests will be conducted on passengers arriving at the airport by the District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMA).

The passengers who test positive will be quarantined at their place of stay or at hospitals according to established protocols.

Quoting a source familiar with the matter, the Indian Express reported that nearly 1,000 random tests are being conducted daily, of which 2% test positive.

Currently, civil defence volunteers and lab technicians are deployed on both terminals for the testing programme.

The Indian Express report added that the DDMA has also started penalising the Covid-19 safety protocol violators inside the airport premises.

The publication quoted a government official as saying: “Ten enforcement teams were deployed on 2 April. Four of these were in Terminal 2 and six were in Terminal 3. Approximately 70 people are being issued challans per day.”

Recently, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) in Mumbai also started imposing fines for such violations.

India is one of the worst affected by the Covid-19 pandemic in terms of confirmed cases and deaths. The South-Asian country is now facing a second wave with several states reporting a surge in coronavirus numbers.

As of 6 April 2021, the disease has infected more than 12.6 million and killed 165,000 in India.