COVID-19: Indians Stranded Abroad To Be Evacuated From May 7 In Phases

New Delhi: The Indian government on Monday announced that it will start bringing back Indians who were stranded abroad because of the coronavirus induced lockdown from May 7 in a phased manner.

Releasing a press statement on the issue, the government said that the Indian Embassies and High Commissions are preparing a list of the stranded Indian nationals and they would be brought back homes via aircraft and naval ships.

However, the government has clarified that passengers will have to pay for the services. Earlier, the government had paid for the evacuation of Indian nationals stuck abroad. The government had banned all international commercial flights to India from March 22 to contain the spread of coronavirus infection.

The government's official guidelines say that all the passengers will be medically screened before they were allowed to board the flights and only asymptomatic persons will be allowed to travel.

The government added that “During the journey, all these passengers would have to follow the protocols, such as the Health Protocols, issued by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Civil Aviation.”

All the passengers must register on the government's Aarogya Setu application on reaching the destination and will go through another round of medical screening which will be followed by a 14-day quarantine period either in a hospital or in an institutional quarantine on the payment basis, by the respective state government.

The ministry said that the state governments are being advised to make necessary arrangements including for testing, quarantine, and onward movement of the returning Indians in their respective states.

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