THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: One of the passengers in the flight from Doha to Thiruvananthapuram has been placed under isolation at the medical college hospital following symptoms of coronavirus. 20 of the 181 passengers in the flight has been placed under quarantine at IMG and two at the Mascot Hotel. Permission was granted to many including pregnant women, children and senior citizens to go home quarantine with strict conditions after convinced of having no symptoms. The passengers in the flight which reached Wednesday early morning were shifted to quarantine centres at 5.30 am after the health examination of all. Thermal face detection camera was installed to get the body temperature.

This is the first flight reaching the capital city as part of Vande Bharath Mission bringing expats from abroad following COVID-19 fear. The flight which was announced to reach on Sunday was cancelled at the last minute after permission was not obtained from the Qatar Government. Though the passengers were subjected for medical examination there, none of them showed any symptoms. In the examination conducted after the flight reached the capital city, there was variation in the body temperature of one. He was immediately shifted to the hospital in an ambulance from the runway without coming in contact with anybody.

All steps are being taken in the hospital for the tests to be conducted. The authorities of the health department has stated that his condition is satisfactory. After he showed symptoms of the virus, all steps are taken to place the rest of the passengers under strict quarantine. The passengers in the flight were from the capital city, Kollam, Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta, Kanyakumari, Maharashtra etc. Majority of the passengers were women.

Help desk was arranged by the health department. Those having no symptoms were sent homes and quarantine centres. Pregnant women and children were sent homes in taxis. The others were taken to isolation centres in KSRTC buses.

District collector K Gopalakrishnan and city police commissioner Balram Kumar Upadhyay led the health check-ups. Quarantine centres to accommodate 20,000 passengers have been arranged in the capital city and six taluks.