File Photo: Mumbai Airport (Press Trust of India)
Elaborate precautionary arrangements have been put in place at the Delhi and Mumbai airports to screen 112 stranded Indians who will arrive today by various flights from and around Ebola-hit Liberia, authorities have said.
Some of these passengers, traveling by a South African Airways flight, arrived at the Mumbai Airport a few minutes after midnight.
"As part of the tentative plan, the aircraft will be first taken to a remote bay and all passengers will be screened at the step-ladder exit after the arrival of flights at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA)," the Mumbai International Airport Limited or MIAL earlier said in a statement.
While the passengers without any symptoms will be cleared and shifted to the terminal for immigration and customs clearance, those with symptoms suggestive of Ebola Virus Disease or EVD will be directly shifted to the designated hospital in ambulances from the bay, it said.
These passengers would have been screened in at least three countries - Liberia, South Africa and United Arab Emirates or Ethiopia, where the flights would have halted on their way - before they land in India, said sources.
They added that the screening was precautionary, as the passengers would have been stopped and quarantined in the other countries if they had exhibited any symptoms of the disease.
According to the MIAL, Ethiopian Airline, Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways, Jet Airways and South African Airways are flying these passengers to Delhi and Mumbai.
MIAL also said the baggage of the flights need to be kept separate by the concerned airline in their custody, adding disinfection of the flight will be carried out after all the passengers alight from the plane.
Flights will be allowed to board the next passengers only after thirty minutes of disinfection, the statement added.