Delhi Airport to start random COVID-19 testing for domestic arrivals

The Delhi International Airport announced on Wednesday that the disaster management authorities would conduct random COVID-19 testing for passengers coming from states where cases were rising.

Delhi Airport tweeted, “Delhi Disaster Management Authority shall conduct random COVID-19 testing of passengers coming from the states where the cases are increasing.” According to reports, the tests will start from Wednesday.

The airport informed that passengers would be allowed to exit after collection of samples. But those found to be positive for COVID-19 would be put in mandatory quarantine.

Last week, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority asked authorities to conduct random COVID-19 testing for passengers coming from states where COVID-19 cases were surging “at all Airports, Railway Stations, Inter-state Bus Terminals (ISBT) and other alighting points (for private buses) in NCT of Delhi”.

The samples would be taken at alighting points and travellers would be allowed to exit, though infected persons would be quarantined.

Delhi reported 992 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday with a positivity rate of 2.70 per cent, while four more people succumbed to the pathogen in the city. The total number of cases of the disease in the city stands at 6,60,611. Over 6.42 lakh patients have recovered so far.

The number of daily cases had started to come down in February. On February 26, the month’s highest daily count of 256 cases was recorded. However, the daily caseload began to rise again in March, and it has been steadily increasing over the past few days.