Sixteen People Evacuated From Afghanistan Test Covid Positive; Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri Also Comes In Contact

With the government making efforts to airlift Indian as well as Afghan nationals from the war-torn Afghanistan, a 14-day quarantine has been made mandatory for all the evacuees landing at the IGI Airport in New Delhi.

RT-PCR tests were conducted on 78 Indian and Afghan nationals returning from Afghanistan on Tuesday, out of which 16 people have tested positive for Covid-19. The tally also include the three Sikhs who brought back with them Guru Granth Sahib from several Afghanistan Gurudwaras, reports India Today.

Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri who was at the Delhi airport to receive Sikhs also came in contact with the infected people. All of them, however, were asymptomatic patients.

Amid the ongoing chaos and unrest in Afghanistan, the Indian government is continuously engaged in evacuating Indian nationals stranded in the war-torn nation.

The mandatory quarantine was initiated after two evacuees tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday. As the threat of a possible third Covid wave looms, the move will ensure that positive cases, if any, coming from Afghanistan are taken care of.

"As the COVID-19 immunization status of these individuals is unknown, and the exact extent of COVID-19 transmission (including circulation of variants) in Afghanistan is unclear at present, as a matter of abundant precaution, it has been decided that the arriving persons shall undergo a mandatory minimum 14 days' institutional quarantine at Sector Headquarters Logistic and Communications, Indo Tibetan Border Police, Chhawla Camp," the Union Health Ministry's office memorandum said.

With IANS Inputs