As many as 180 Indian nationals, hailing from various parts of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karnataka, arrived in Coimbatore on a repatriation flight from Dubai in the early hours of Wednesday.
The Air India Express flight (IX 1611) landed at the airport at 12.20 a.m.
According to details shared by airport director R. Mahalingam, the returnees included 160 adults, 17 children and three infants.
The swab samples of all the passengers were lifted on arrival at the airport. The Health Department was awaiting the test results.
Among the 180 passengers, 20 were pregnant women. Many passengers were wearing coveralls and protective gear.
A Health Department official said 13 of the 20 pregnant women refused to stay at hotels arranged for paid institutional quarantine, and left for their homes. The department collected details of their whereabouts. The remaining seven opted to stay at different hotels.
Barring the 13 pregnant women, all the others checked into different hotels, choosing tariffs suited to them.
Row over costs
A few passengers got into an argument with officials, saying they won’t be able to bear the expense of paid quarantine at hotels. Revenue Department officials assured them that a solution would be found.
After seven days of institutional quarantine, those who test negative will have to undergo home quarantine for seven days.
The repatriation flight, operated as part of the Vande Bharat Mission, later left for Chennai.
