Emergència COVID: Vol de l'Índia detingut a Roma

After being subjected to an COVID swab test, the passengers will have to go through a period of isolation of 10 days, after which they will be subjected to a new swab test that shows negativity to COVID before being allowed to leave the facilities.

The seriousness of the situation of passengers arriving from India was sensed by this author 10 days earlier after having personally investigated the control system upon arrival at Fiumicino. At that time, passengers were measured only for fever and then were left free to travel to the city. Those who continued on to a train journey were under no better health control.

Just a few days ago, the intervention of the Minister of Health, Roberto Speranza, was recorded as saying on his Facebook account precisely addressing arrivals from India: “I signed a new ordinance banning entry to Italy for those who have been in India in the last 14 days. Residents in Italy will be able to return with a swab at departure and arrival and with the obligation of quarantine. Anyone who has been in India in the last 14 days and is already in our country is required to undergo a swab by contacting the prevention departments.”

Minister Speranza signed a new ordinance for Bangladesh and India that prohibits entry from any border point to anyone who has stayed or passed through Bangladesh as well as India in the last 14 days. Furthermore, given the further worsening of the epidemiological situation in the 2 countries, the measure strengthens the isolation measures for people residing in Italy authorized to return.

Critical situation in New Delhi

The plane that arrived in Rome this evening comes from New Delhi, a city where more than 600 bodies have been cremated every day in the last week. This was reported by Jai Prakash, Mayor of North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), one of the city’s municipal corporations, in an interview with CNN.

India, the country most affected by the pandemic at the moment, has exceeded 200,000 deaths caused by COVID, and experts also believe that the number is decidedly underestimated. “We start receiving the bodies in the morning, and they continue to arrive throughout the day. We have to close for the night otherwise people would bring the bodies to us even after sunset,” added Suman Kumar Gupta, an official at Nigambodh Ghat, the largest cremation site in Delhi.

According to data from Johns Hopkins University, the country recorded a new record of 360,927 cases and 3,293 deaths in the past 24 hours.

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