Of 179 passengers from the UAE who landed in the first Vande Bharat Mission flight from Dubai to Mangaluru on Tuesday, 20 tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday, according to Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner Sindhu B. Rupesh.
She told presspersons that of those who tested positive, 14 are from Dakshina Kannada, five are from Udupi district and one is from Uttara Kannada. All of them have been quarantined and being treated in designated hospitals in their respective districts.
Of the total number of passengers who arrived, 125 persons are presently in Dakshina Kannada, 49 passengers are in Udupi and five are in Uttara Kannada.
The Deputy Commissioner said that in addition, a 68-year-old woman from Suratkal in Dakshina Kannada also tested positive on Friday. Earlier, she had been admitted to a private hospital with Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI). With this, Dakshina Kannada alone reported 15 positive cases on Friday, the highest so far in the district.
She said that those who are asymptomatic will be tested again on the 12th day.
The second flight under the mission from Dubai will arrive in Mangaluru on May 18.
