Under the Vande Bharat Mission, the first batch of the foreign returnees belonging to Andhra Pradesh arrived in Vijayawada on Sunday.
Thirty four persons coming from Chicago by a special flight landed at the Hyderabad airport and were accompanied to the city by State officials.
Collector A. Md. Imtiaz, Joint Collector K. Madhavi Latha, Vijayawada Sub-Collector H.M. Dhyan Chandra welcomed the returnees at Berm Park, where paid quarantine facilities were arranged for them.
Of the total returnees, seven are from Krishna and the rest belong to other districts. They were offered food and were sent to paid quarantine facilities after completion of screening for COVID-19 symptoms.
Officials said that they would be allowed to leave for their destinations once they test negative for the infection and after they complete the 14-day quarantine period.
Mr. Imtiaz asked the returnees to cooperate with the officials at the quarantine centres. The government has arranged paid quarantine facilities at private hotels for foreign returnees. Around 3, 000 returnees are expected to return to the State.
