Passengers seen protesting against quarantine at IGI Airport

International passengers at Delhi's IGI airport were seen protesting against being put under quarantine in view of the coronavirus outbreak in the country. A video of the incident has gone viral on social media.

New Delhi: Scenes of protest from international passengers against being placed under quarantine to curb the spread of COVID-19 virus were witnessed at the Delhi Airport recently. However, sources claim that the situation was later resolved.

In a social media video post that went viral, a group of passengers were seen shouting slogans and arguing with officials at the IGI Airport, as their passports were withheld.

The incident took place on Monday, when these passengers were being taken to the quarantine facility.

According to highly placed sources, these passengers arrived on two flights that had landed from Europe on Monday morning. Around 300 passengers arrived on the flights from Paris and Frankfurt.

"On Monday, there was some congestion in and around the area, where these passengers were kept. Some passengers were resisting against being quarantined. However, current procedures clearly mandate quarantine of 14 days," a highly placed source said.

"However, their concerns were resolved later and they were shifted to the quarantine facility."

Nevertheless, in the video, few passengers were seen asking their passports back from the officials.

"Upon their arrival and medical screening, their passports were taken to to ascertain details of the addresses that they had furnished at the screening stations," the sources said.

Later, when they were being taken to the quarantine facility, there was rush and chaos, and in the ensuing situation, a number of passengers protested.

"Currently, every country have similar measures in place and any and everyone has to be quarantined for the greater good," the source said.

"These passengers were taken in batches to buses which were waiting outside to take them to the quarantine centres."

Later in the day, referring to the video, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri told reporters in the Parliament: "Several people, who have been taken for quarantine, are saying 'we don't want to be here, we want to stay in a hotel.' The arrangements for quarantine was done by Delhi government...."

"Some delay happened on the first day... There was some congestion... The video which you are seeing in social media is three days old... Everything was sorted out."

At present, entry of passengers from Afghanistan, Philippines, Malaysia to India have also been prohibited.

Similarly, passengers coming from the EU, European Free Trade Association countries as well as Turkey and the UK can not enter India from Wednesday.

Furthermore, all passengers coming from or transiting through UAE, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait in addition to China, Iran and South Korea will be placed under compulsory quarantine for a minimum period of 14 days.

Inputs from IANS

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