BENGALURU: International passengers who test COVID positive on taking the Rapid RT-PCR tests at the airport before their flight journeys are increasingly getting irate inside the Kempegowda International Airport.
They end up abusing those working at the testing centre here and protesting vehemently, sometimes forcing the need to call the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to keep them in check, say airport sources.
An average of 400 international passengers undergo the rapid RT-PCR test at the facilities set up here and the results are delivered to them within an hour’s time.
A reliable airport source said that the frustration of having planned for a trip and reaching the airport from their houses gets spilled over when the COVID test shows positive.
“I have seen such passengers take it out on the staff working at the COVID testing labs set up inside the airport. This is particularly common among passengers heading to Middle East countries which mandate a negative covid test report that needs to be taken just six hours before boarding of the flight,” he said.
Such incidents of passenger aggression over the results have happened on and off in the past, the source said. “However, during the last ten days, we are seeing a marked increase in passengers behaving like this,” he added.
Another source at the airport added, “Public repeatedly explain to the staff that they are asymptomatic. So, how could the result come positive?” While some question the credibility of the results in an angry fashion, a few get belligerent and start loudly abusing the staff prompting the need to call the CISF, he explained.
Another issue many international passengers state is that they have an RT-PCR report taken recently at some testing centre which showed a negative result, the source added.
An eyewitness at the airport said, “The frustration over their plans not going as per schedule is understandable. But refusing to accept the results in the right spirit and blaming those taking the samples or helping them with the process is not acceptable.”
As of date, 6,42,794 passengers have been screened at the airport, reveals data from the State Department of Health and Family Welfare department.