SOP Laid Down For Indians Stranded Across The World Being Flown Back

New Delhi: The Government of India has laid down a Standard Operating Protocol (SOP) for Indians stranded in various parts of the world would be flown back to the country in the first week of May after 7th, media outlets reported on Tuesday. Passengers will be required to fill up a self-declaration form on arrival. Medical screening of passengers would be conducted before they board a flight and only passengers who are asymptomatic would be allowed to board the flight.

Passengers will be required to download and register themselves on the Aarogya Setu app for further medical screening and scrutiny and will be sent to a quarantine facility either in a hospital or in an institutional quarantine on payment basis, media reports stated.

Thousands of Indians are reported to be stranded in various parts of the world, a bulk of them in the Middle eastern countries.

The government is likely to use commercial flights and naval warships in phases to evacuate stranded Indians from May 7. The government of India will thereby undertake the largest repatriation exercise ever.

In the first phase, Indian citizens are likely to be evacuated from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Malaysia, the US, the UK, the Philippines, Bangladesh, and Singapore. The Civil Aviation Ministry is likely to oversee 64 scheduled flights in the first week.

Indian missions around the world have been registering citizens stranded once COVID-19 related travel restrictions were put in place both by India as well as other countries. Many of these Indian citizens wanted to return because they want to be reunited with their families, have lost their jobs or have been stranded during the course of travel.

In UAE alone, around 1,50,000 Indians are reported to have registered with the Indian missions, and many of them have cited job loss as the primary reason for their return.