About 10,800 citizens, including hundreds of Kannadigas are waiting to return to Karnataka from other countries where they have been stranded over the last 45 days due to the prolonged lockdown and suspension of flights since March 23, an official said on Thursday.
"About 10,800 people, including several from Karnataka have registered with the Aarogya Setu app of the state government for returning to their home state from abroad, as they have been stuck in many countries the world over due to lockdown and suspension of flights since over a month," the official told here.
Of the registered applicants, about 800 are scheduled to arrive in Bengaluru in three Air India flights the central government has arranged to evacuate them along with 14,000 others from 12 countries in a week beginning Thursday.
"About 250 passengers are flying to the city from London, 300 from San Francisco and another 250 from Singapore in the coming days," said the official.
As per the standard operating procedures and Covid-induced lockdown guidelines, only those citizens who are asymptomatic will be eligible to fly back from the country they have been stranded over the last 6 weeks.
"On arrival at the city international airport, they will be thermal screened and quarantined for 14 days in designated hotels for isolation and observation, including testing to ensure they are free from coronavirus," said the official.
The state government has arranged rooms in hotels across the city to keep the returnees for the quarantine period.
The returnees, including senior citizens, women, children, businessmen and tourists have been stuck in several countries like Britain, France, Germany, Spain, US, Australia and the UAE.
"The remaining 10,000 citizens of the southern state will fly to Bengaluru or to Mangaluru airport on the west coast when the central government arranges evacuation flights from the countries they are stranded in the coming weeks or months," the official added.
( With inputs from IANS )