Thiruvananthapuram, May 08: Kerala Chief Minister, Shri Pinarayi Vijayan today said that the Government is doing all possible to help and support the returning expatriates. “The Government is providing all possible facilities for the returning Pravasies. Those coming from Red Zones will have mandatory quarantine for 14 days. Henceforth, those coming from red zones will be moved to quarantine centres from the check post itself.” Yesterday, two flights from UAE reached Kerala and today, one flight from Saudi Arabia is expected to arrive late night.
The flight from Abu Dhabi to Kochi came with 181 passengers including four infants, 15 children under the age of 10 and 49 pregnant women. Five people from this flight were admitted at Kalamassery Medical College for isolation. The flight from Dubai to Kozhikode had 182 passengers including five children. Today’s special flight from Riyadh to Kozhikode has 149 expatriates. Apart from 139 persons from 13 districts of the state, there are 10 from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu also.
The list includes 84 pregnant women, 22 children, five with emergency medical needs and three people above the age of seventy. A flight from Doha is expected to in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday with people from Thiruvananthapuram, Kanyakumari, Kollam, Alappuzha and Pathanamthitta districts.
The CM informed that all necessary arrangements have been made at the airport. He also requested those in quarantine to follow all the instructions by the health workers. Special care should be taken to ensure social distancing whether at home or in quarantine centres. “Quarantine centres are not set up like relief camps that are set up very quickly in the event of natural calamities. Here, the preparations have been going on for several days and the accommodation and other amenities are provided in accordance with the healthcare standards”, he added. 86,679 Malayalees stranded in other States due to lockdown have registered for passes. Of these, 37,891 (43.71%) are from Red zone places. So far 45,814 have been issued passes and out of these, 19,476 were for those from Red zones. Till date, 16,385 people have reached back Kerala. Of these, 8,912 are from Red zones. Out of those who arrived yesterday, 3,216 have been moved to quarantine centres. Those who came earlier from Red zones earlier are being identified and moved to government quarantine centres for mandatory 14 days quarantine. Children below 10 years age, senior citizens above 75 and pregnant women will be quarantined at homes.
The Chief Minister informed that pass distribution will continue as per the standard operating procedure in place but entry will not be permitted for those without prior registration. Meanwhile, till May 07, 24,088 migrant labourers have gone to their native states from Kerala in 21 special non-stop trains. This includes 10,017 migrant workers in nine trains to Bihar, 3,421 on three trains to Odisha, 5,689 on five trains to Jharkhand, 2,293 in two trains to Uttar Pradesh, 1,143 in one train to Madhya Pradesh and 1,131 in one train to West Bengal.