Guwahati: Even as the number of Covid-19 patients in Assam continued to tick upwards, a Jazeera Airways flight from Kuwait landed in Guwahati today carrying 155 passengers who were stuck after the outbreak of the contagion. This flight was handled as part of the Central government's Vande Bharat Mission that seeks to repatriate Indians stuck in foreign lands. Three more such flights are expected to land in Guwahati city till June 5.
The airliner was one among 12 flights that were handled today by the LGBI airport, which resumed operations for domestic passengers on May 25 amid rising demand to repatriate stranded citizens. The government's nod to allow these repatriation flights to bring back Indians stuck in foreign land will serve as a balm to the ailing airlines sector, which has mostly been closed down ever since the lockdown was announced by the Centre to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus and has suffered losses in the crores.
In view of the pandemic, global travel has been severely restricted and countries have shut their borders. As a consequence, the travel and tourism industry has incurred heavy losses. The pandemic has shown no signs of slowing down and 5,945,214 cases have been reported in countries across the world. Alarmingly, 362,920 people have died from the respiratory illness, and 2,608,366 people have recovered so far.