Passengers on board of Vande Bharat mission made to pay for the 14-day quarantine

Indu Bhagat

Mumbai, May 15, 2020: Indians from across the globe are being evacuated by the Indian government under the Vande Bharat mission. Passengers on board of this flight have to pay from their own pockets. 14-day quarantining will be a must for all the evacuees which will be a paid service. Passengers coming back to their motherland have to undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine facility. But even before that, they have to go through thermal screening, which will be done at the airport itself.

The screening of the passengers will be government-funded whereas 14-day mandatory quarantine is a self-paid service. The 14- day quarantine after the arrival is a mandatory procedure, and the quarantine facility has been set up very near to the airport. Anyone who goes through thermal screening and has COVID symptom will be immediately rushed to a designated hospital for the treatment as per the protocol issued by the Ministry of Health. Several evacuees’ passengers who reached the city on Air India’s first ‘Vande Bharat Mission were made to pay entire amounts for the 14-day quarantine period at expensive hotels.

According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), all international passengers arriving in the city are being sent to hotels for institutional quarantine, while those reporting symptoms at the airport are sent to isolation wards in hospitals. These instructions are issued when the flights are booked giving passengers a choice to decide the hotel they would like to stay in.