KOCHI: The COVID scare has come as a blessing in disguise for hundreds of Indians languishing in the jails in various West Asian countries. To avoid overcrowding, many Gulf countries are releasing foreign nationals from jail and deporting them to their respective nations.
A group of Indians deported from Bahrain was brought to Kochi on Sunday, and were quarantined at the School for Naval Airmen.
“Indians deported from West Asian countries were brought to Indore and Chennai last week. Another batch of deportees from Oman will be brought to Kochi next week. A group of 161 Indians are being deported from the US this week. They will be brought to Amritsar. We have arranged free quarantine facility for the deportees from Bahrain and Oman at Kochi Naval Base as most of them cannot afford the expense,” Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan told TNIE.
Sharing concerns about people with COVID symptoms hiding information about their health to board flights to Kerala, he said passengers are put through rapid tests in the UAE before they board the flight.
“The passengers have to submit a self-declaration before boarding the flight. When the state demanded immediate evacuation of Keralites in the West Asian countries, we at the MEA had raised such concerns. When we decided to take a medical team to Italy and conduct PCR tests before the evacuation, the chief minister had opposed it,” he said.
He said Kerala has reduced the institutional quarantine period for people arriving from abroad from 14 days to seven days, ignoring the Union government’s directive.
“This laxity on the part of the state can jeopardise our guard. The state is allowing people without symptoms to proceed to their houses while others are quarantined for seven days. I don’t know where they got the information that the patient will show COVID symptoms within seven days. Experts say that it will take 10 to 14 days for a patient to show Covid symptoms,' he said.