Coronavirus: Vistara Airlines has asked the crew to observe self-quarantine (Representational)
A person tested positive for coronavirus was onboard a Mumbai-Goa Vistara flight, the Goa government said today in a statement, asking the co-passengers to establish contact with the authorities. The patient had travelled from New York to Mumbai before taking the domestic flight and was found to be positive on Sunday, it added.
"One of the patients detected positive for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on 29.3.2020 at Goa Medical College has travel history from New York to Mumbai and then by Vistara Domestic Flight, UK861, from Mumbai to Goa on 22nd March, 2020," the government informed.
"Hence, people currently in Goa who had travelled on the said flight are appealed to immediately report to helpline 104, call 0832-2421810/2225538, or report to the nearest Health Centre," the statement further read.
After the revelation, Goa and Maharashtra governments have initiated the contact tracing protocol to ensure the passengers on the flight are isolated.
Meanwhile, Vistara Airlines has asked the flight crew to observe self-quarantine.
"We have provided all relevant information to the authorities for contact tracing. Staff who had operated the flight or come in contact with the passengers have been asked to self-quarantine," it said in a statement.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week announced a 21-day lockdown to check the spread of the highly contagious virus, which has so far killed over 30,000 people across the world.
Flight operations - both international and domestic - have been suspended.
29 people have died in India because of the virus. 1071 positive cases have been detected in the country so far; around 100 patients have recovered.
The centre today said the coronavirus pandemic in India hasn't entered the community transmission stage. "Our country is the local transmission stage," a senior health ministry official said.