Passengers from UK undergo covid test at Amritsar airport amid concern over new coronavirus strain
Dec 22, 2020
Amritsar (Punjab) [India], December 22 :In the wake of a new strain of coronavirus emerging in UK, passengers have to get themselves tested for COVID-19 at the Amritsar airport.
Passengers were seen waiting in a long queue on Tuesday at the Amritsar airport to get themselves tested for COVID-19 while scores of people waited outside Amritsar airport to receive their relatives who came from London.
"Authorities are asking passengers to undergo COVID-19 testing but they were tested just before boarding the flight. They should be allowed to go home," said a relative of one of the passengers.
Deepak Bhatia, Sub-Divisional Magistrate (Ajnala) said that the people arriving from London need to undergo an RT-PCR test which may take hours due to which the passengers will have to stay at the airport.
"A total of 242 passengers have arrived on board this special flight. They need to undergo RT-PCR test which may take 6-8 hours and for that, passengers need to stay at the airport," said SDM Deepak Bhatia.
Meanwhile, flight services from the UK to India have been suspended till December 31 over the spread of a new strain of coronavirus in London and England.
Passengers arriving from the UK in Mumbai on Tuesday morning have been sent for institutional quarantine in the wake of the new virus strain.
On December 20, Prime Minister Boris Johnson informed the public that a new variant of the COVID-19 virus has been found in the UK.
He tweeted, "Given the early evidence we have on this new variant of the virus, and the potential risk it poses, it is with a heavy heart that I must tell you we cannot continue with Christmas as planned."
