Two COVID-19 patients manage to fly from Chennai to Kolkata, Mamata government slams Centre
KOLKATA: Two persons, who tested positive for Covid-19 in Chennai two days ago, travelled to Kolkata in a private airline on Monday morning and went straight to a hospital in East Midnapore district which is designated for infected patients.
State transport minister Subhendu Adhikary hit out at the Centre and accused the civil aviation ministry for its gross negligence for allowing the patients to travel with other passengers.
Adhikary said a 25-year-old youth and another in his early thirties came to Boroma Hospital on Monday morning.
"When the hospital staff enquired, they showed the reports of their Covid-19 tests which were positive. They said they wanted to get admitted to the hospital," Adhikary said, adding, "Swabs of the two persons were collected on June 12 and it was tested in a laboratory in Chennai. The reports of the tests came positive the next day. They boarded the flight on June 14. How could they skip the surveillance at the airport? Besides, why they were not admitted to a hospital in Chennai immediately after their reports came positive."
The minister also accused the ICMR for the lapse saying the laboratory which conducted the tests functions under it.
The airport authorities in Kolkata said they do not have any system in place to identify travellers who are Covid-19 positive.
"If an asymptomatic patient does not declare his or her test report, we have no system to identify him or her. Besides, we received no communication from our counterparts in Chennai," said an official of Kolkata airport.