LGBI Airport in Guwahati Resumes Operations with 'Minimum Touch' Policy

Guwahati:

After 60 days of suspension, domestic airlines were today once again operationalized and on day one of the resumption, the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International (LGBI) airport in Assam's Guwahati city, in a quiet yet efficient manner, handled 8 flights with over 200 passengers.

Sanjeev Jindal, Regional Executive Director of the Airports Authority of India, informed The Sentinel Digital  that the airlines are providing "almost touch free" services to the passengers in order to reduce the risk of an outbreak of the cornavirus contagion. "All stakeholders got together and we found out the alternate ways how without stamping even the boarding passes. All these things are in place in all the Northeast airports", said Jindal.

Jindal also said that out of the 12 airports in the Northeast, only 2 airports – Guwahati and Imphal – are handling flights. He said that all the airports will be fully operational from May 28 onwards, as travel restrictions that are in place in Cyclone Amphan-hit West Bengal are eased.

On any given day, the Guwahati airport used to handle at least 130 flights, however, to ease the burden on the already stressed health machinery, the number of flights has been reduced significantly. Assam Finance and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who reached the airport in the morning to take stock of the situation, informed that the the number of flights is expected to go up post May 27, as Northeast Indians suffering in the aftermath of the destructive Cyclone Amphan seek to make a return after Bengal laxes its restrictions.

Meanwhile, the airport authority in Guwahati has made every arrangement to ensure that the social distancing norms are followed to reduce the risk of an outbreak and white and yellow circles have been made to for that purpose. Counters like these have been set up outside the arrival lounge so that people going to other parts of Assam & northeast can be assisted and taken for quarantine. Details are being collected of every passenger.

Assam State Transport Corporation, at the same time, has made arrangements to ferry flyers to their destinations, some even for free. Other state governments have also made similar arrangements, and there efforts are being made to ensure the smooth transit of passengers in these trying corona times.

Gone are the days when one would just land from their flights and move to their respective destinations. To prevent an outbreak, the Assam State Government has necessitated both home and institutional quarantine for a combined period of 14 days.

Quarantine Measures for Returnees by Flight - What You Need to Know:

According to the new rules, the pilots, air crew and maintenance staff, of both passenger and cargo aircrafts, will not be quarantined. All passengers will undergo thermal screening at the airports, and the symptomatic passengers from Assam will be taken to the nearest Zonal/district screening centre.

The asymptomatic passengers shall also have to undergo combined institutional and home quarantine of at least 14 days. The institutional quarantine period of a passenger will be 7 days or till the RT-PCR Covid-19 tests are declared, whichever is earlier. This is to be followed by a period of home quarantine.

The asymptomatic passengers of Kamrup (M), Darrang, Morigaon, Hojai, will travel to one of the nearby screening centres set up at Sarusajai and Kiranshree Grand, where swab samples will be taken for RT-PCR tests before they are taken for institutional quarantine.

At the same time, the passengers from other districts will be taken to their own districts' screening centres before they are whisked off to designated institutional quarantine centres. Exemptions from Quarantine -- who will be eligible? Passengers on a day-long visit who will depart on the same day without a night halt will be exempted from the 14-day quarantine. 

Government of India and Assam Government officials on duty "with prior intimation to Government of Assam having night halt in suitable isolated accommodation arranged by Government of Assam or Government of India or associated organizations will be allowed to return without undergoing quarantine."

Additionally, para-military personnel and transit passengers travelling to other Northeast Indian states will also be exempted. Pregnant women, elderly persons above 75 years of age, persons due to attend funerals, children below 10 years of age, physically-challenged people, immediate relatives of hospitalized patients, and patients who have undergone cardiac, kidney, and cancer treatments -- if they do not show any symptoms -- are required to only go for home quarantine for a period of 14 days.

Persons who have completed mandated quarantine period of 14 days within the previous two weeks of travel and had tested negative in an RT-PCR test within the previous 7 days prior to arrival, and also those who tested negative for the RT-PCR test within previous 3 days prior to arrival -- upon showing no symptoms -- will be quarantined at home for 10 days.