COVID-19: Arrangements in place at Vijayawada airport to scan every passenger to prevent Omicron spread, says Airport Director

Stating that all efforts are in place to prevent the cases of COVID-19 and Omicron in the State, PV Rama Rao, Director of Gannavaram Airport, said on Wednesday that the airport authorities have made arrangements to scan every passenger arriving in the State.

Rama Rao said, "Arrangements have been made to scan every passenger in order to prevent the spread of Omicron."

He said that they have been screening all the international passengers, conducting 100 per cent RT-PCR tests. "If anybody is tested positive for COVID-19, then they would be asked to stay at the airport itself until results of Omicron are out. Once the passenger is tested positive, then the details of the person will be provided to the health department."

"The State government will provide the treatment to the patients and send them to their respective homes after testing negative to the COVID19," he added.

He also added that currently there are no international flights being operated from "at-risk" countries to Vijayawada. "But some of the passengers from the "at-risk" countries are coming to Vijayawada after arriving in other parts of the country. A passenger from Brazil came to Vijayawada was tested negated for Omicron," added Rama Rao.

The Director further said that they were maintaining passenger safety norms and implementing COVID-19 protocols at the airport and requested the passengers to cooperate with the authorities.

Dr. Y Suresh, Nodal Officer at Gannavaram Airport, said that they have been conducting RT-PCR tests of all the international passengers arriving at the airport. "They have been providing the test results within three hours and then only they are allowed to leave the airport premises. If anybody is found positive to the COVID19 then their samples are sent for genome sequencing in order to ascertain whether the patient has been infected with Omicron or not. The results for Omicron would take 72 hours," said Dr. Suresh.

( With inputs from ANI )

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