International flights to Chennai may be diverted to Trichy airport from next week

International flights to Chennai may be diverted to Trichy airport from next week

TNN | May 16, 2020, 04.04 AM IST

TRICHY: Several central districts have ramped up their institutional quarantine facilities after the state government indicated its intention to divert some of the Chennai-bound international flights carrying stranded Indians to Trichy from next week. Official sources in Trichy told TOI that the government decided not to land some of these flights at Chennai airport to take the load off crowded quarantine facilities in Chennai.

Though an official order was yet to be issued, the districts have decided to keep their quarantine facilities ready. A senior official in Trichy said around 5,000 beds in hostels of educational institutions across the district were available to accommodate the passengers. In Karur, an official said they had hostel facility ready in a college to accommodate about 600 passengers. Altogether, about 15,000 passengers could be lodged in institutional quarantine in Trichy, Karur, Pudukottai, Thanjavur, Ariyalur and Perambalur districts.

Meanwhile, all 178 quarantined Malaysia returnees in Trichy have been sent home after they tested negative for Covid-19 on Friday. District collector S Sivarasu said the discharged passengers were advised to be on home quarantine for 14 days. The group comprising pregnant women and elderly passengers had arrived by a special Air India Express flight on May 9. No one had virus symptoms, and only a male patient with renal issues was admitted to Mahatma Gandhi memorial government hospital (MGMGH). In all, 117 passengers were put up at government engineering college at Sethurapatti while 60 others chose self-paid hotel facility.

On Friday, the administration made transport facilities for 163 of these people to go to their homes in 19 districts in the state. While four passengers went to Andhra Pradesh, one to Karnataka, and 10 returned to their homes in Trichy.