Mining baron Janardhana Reddy can’t campaign in Ballari for Karnataka polls: Supreme Court

Dubai, May 6: The Indian nationals cleared by the UAE health authorities and found to be asymptomatic will only be allowed to fly back home in one of India's biggest ever repatriation exercises, the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi has said ahead of the first set of flights on Thursday.

On Monday, the Indian government announced plans to begin a phased repatriation of its citizens stranded abroad from May 7. Air India will operate 64 flights from May 7 to May 13 to bring back around 15,000 Indian nationals stranded abroad amid the COVID-19-induced lockdown, India's Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Tuesday.

The first two special flights that will operate from Thursday to evacuate Indians stranded in the UAE due to the coronavirus pandemic will begin with applicants from Kerala, who formed the majority of the expatriates who have registered to be repatriated from here, Indian Ambassador to the UAE Pavan Kapoor has said.

"All departing passengers will have to undergo medical screening and IGM/IGG test at the departure airport and only those cleared by the UAE health authorities and found to be asymptomatic will be allowed to board the plane,” the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi said on Tuesday.

According to the embassy, all passengers will be required to sign an undertaking to undergo compulsory quarantine at the destination of arrival and bear the cost of the same.

“Each passenger, at the time of boarding would be handed over a safety kit containing 2 three-layered face masks, 2 pairs of gloves and pouches/small bottles of hand sanitizers. While on board the flight, the health protocol of the Ministry of Civil Aviation of India will be strictly followed,” said the embassy.

The passenger lists for the two flights on May 7 have been finalised by the Embassy / Consulate and sent to Air India Express for issue of tickets.

The Embassy / Consulate will continue conveying the details of further special flights as and when they are announced by the Government of India, over the next few days.

Less than 2,000 Indians wishing to return home from the UAE will be flown to six Indian states in the first week of India’s biggest ever repatriation exercise named Vande Bharat Mission—sans social distancing and COVID-19 tests, the Gulf News reported.

Only those cleared by the UAE health authorities and found to be asymptomatic will be allowed to board the plane.

The short-listed applicants, who were contacted by the Indian missions on Tuesday to purchase tickets for the first two flights to Kerala on Thursday, told the Gulf News that the tickets are priced around Dh 725 to Dh 750 (over Rs 15,000).

Sharjah resident Rasheed Thayyil said his 70-year-old mother Nepheeza Thottungal, who came on a visit to the UAE in February, received an email from the Indian Consulate in Dubai which quoted an airfare of around Dh725 (approx Rs 15,000), the report said.

Another applicant from Abu Dhabi Ambily Babu said she purchased a ticket at Dh 750 from Air India Express for her Abu Dhabi-Kochi flight scheduled to fly on Thursday evening, it said.

Air India Express which is set to operate the first two flights to Kerala on Thursday will operate its Boeing 737-800 aircraft, with a seating capacity of 186 economy class seats, the report added.

With nine seats reserved for isolation, only 177 passengers would be flown, it said.

The Indian expatriate community of approximately 3.42 million is reportedly the largest ethnic community in the UAE constituting roughly about 30 per cent of the country's population, according to information available on the Indian Embassy website.

Mangaluru, Mar 27: Thousands of letters are pending at various Post offices in Dakshina Kannada for delivery since declaration of lockdown due to Corona virus which is spreading like wildfire in the country.

Of the 542 offices in the district, only eight are functioning and the only post office opened in the district facilitates only withdrawal of funds by the customers, district senior official said here on Friday.

There are in all 53 departmental offices and 96 branch offices in Mangaluru Taluk and about 4,000 general postcards and 1,000 Registered and Speed Posts are pending for delivery. Also, there are a total of 393 post offices in the Puttur division and only a few are opened. About 48 postal bags are pending and there are about 200-300 postcards in each bag.

Mangaluru, Jul 23: Dakshina Kannada recorded seven more deaths related to covid-19 even as the district saw a spike of 218 new coronavirus positive cases in past 24 hours. With this the total number of covid related deaths in the district mounted to 99. 

Among the seven fatalities, the first one is a 36-year-old man hailing from Davanagere. He was admitted to a private hospital on July 16, and breathed his last yesterday.He was suffering from sepsis septic shock, acute liver injury, and acute kidney injury, acute chronic pancreatitis, ARDS, and spontaneous bacterial peritonitis. 

The second victim is a 69-year-old man from Bhatkal, who was admitted to a private hospital on July 7, and passed away July 22. He suffered from heart disease, cancer, renal failure and pulmonary thromboembolism. 

The third one is a 52-year-old man from Palakkad, Kerala. He was admitted to a Wenlock hospital on July 19, and passed away on July 22. He suffered from diabetes, ARDS and respiratory issues. 

The fourth one is an 83-year-old man from Mangaluru. He was admitted to a Wenlock hospital on June 13, and passed away on July 22. He suffered from blood pressure, heart disease and pneumonia. 

The fifth one is a 73-year-old man from Mangaluru, who was admitted to a private hospital on July 21, and passed away on July 22. He was suffering from diabetes mellitus, hypertension, old cerebrovascular accident, hyponatraemia and acute on chronic kidney disease. 

The sixth one a 58-year-old woman from Mangaluru. She was admitted to a private hospital on July 11 and passed away on July 22. She was suffering from type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension. 

The seventh is a 52-year-old male from Bantwal. He was admitted to private hospital on July 21 and passed away on July 22. He was suffering from heart disease.

As per the district health bulletin, a total of 31,068 samples have been tested so far. 26,854 have turned out negative, and 4,214 are positive till date. Out of these, 2,253 cases are currently active. 1,862 persons have recovered and been discharged. Among the deceased, 12 are from other districts.

As many as 118 patients were discharged on Thursday from Wenlock as well as private hospitals. Of the 218 who tested positive on Thursday, 36 are primary contacts, 110 have ILI symptoms, 16 have SARI symptoms, and contacts of 57 are being traced.