International departures began from the Cochin International Airport (CIAL) today with around 146 passengers travelling to the UAE after undergoing the mandatory Rapid PCR tests at the airport itself.
Though the ban on international air travel is effective till July-end due to the second wave of Covid-19, a special arrangement made between India and certain countries permits passengers to fly to some international sectors through Air bubble operations.
"The Rapid PCR testing facility established by CIAL at its international terminal is becoming a great boon for the passengers travelling to UAE.On Monday as many as 146 passengers were able to travel to the UAE as CIAL facilitated the mandatory testing which gave out the result in less than half an hour," an official release issued by the CIAL stated.
In continuation with this, the Dubai Supreme Committee of Crisis and Disaster Management amended the travel protocol for Indian passengers on its 19 June circular permitting them to arrive at UAE with the compliance of rules including a mandatory Rapid PCR negative certificate taken within 4 hrs prior to the departure, it said.
CIAL Managing Director S Suhas took measures to find suitable labs, which were authorised by Kerala Medical Corporation Ltd for operating the Rapid PCR testing centre.
CIAL commissioned the facility on June 28 and on Monday, 146 passengers on special permission could travel to the UAE by an Etihad flight which left at 0815 hours.
The testing centre at the airport has the capacity to carry out the test on 200 passengers in an hour, the release added.
The outbound passengers from India also should have received two doses of a vaccine approved by UAE authorities.
Meanwhile, Kerala on Sunday logged 12,100 fresh COVID-19 cases and 76 related deaths, taking the total case count to 29.73 lakh and the toll of fatalities to 13,716.
According to a bulletin, 1,18,047 samples were tested in the last 24 hours and the test positivity rate was 10.25%. Till date, 2.35 crore samples were tested.
With Agency Inputs
