Amritsar: 125 air passengers test Covid positive

Amritsar: As many as 125 of the 160 passengers on a chartered flight from Rome, who were tested after landing in Amritsar, have tested positive for the coronavirus disease, Amritsar airport officials said. The flight, which took off from Rome with a stopover at Georgia capital Tiblisi for refuelling, landed at Amritsar's Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport, at 11.20 am on Thursday with 179 passengers.

There were 19 children below the age of five on the flight. Children under 5 years of age are exempted from post-arrival testing, according to the Union Health Ministry guidelines on international travel. The airport officials said: "Remaining 160 passengers were tested for Covid-19 using the RT-PCR test. Of them, 125 have tested positive." "These 125 passengers of the chartered flight are being sent for institutional quarantine in their respective districts," said VK Seth, Airport Director of Amritsar airport.

Not Air India flight Initial reports of the large number of passengers testing positive for Covid-19 suggested the plane was operated by Air India. The airline rebutted this version. "Several media houses have reported that passengers of Air India flight from Rome to Amritsar have been tested Covid positive. This is wrong and baseless. Air India doesn't operate any flight from Rome currently," Air India tweeted.