At least 10 evacuees from Afghanistan test Covid-19 positive

At least 10 evacuees from Afghanistan tested Covid19 positive after their arrival at the Indira Gandhi International airport here on Tuesday according to people coordinating evacuation efforts with the Indian governmentAn IndoTibetan Border Police ITBP official said 81 people who arrived from Afghanistan on Monday and Tuesday have been sent to the ITBPs quarantine facility at Chhawla in southwest DelhiAccording to an office memorandum issued by the Union Health Ministry on Monday people arriving from Afghanistan have to undergo a mandatory ldquominimum 14day institutional quarantinerdquo at the ITBP facilityldquoAny person testing positive or detected as symptomatic shall be shifted to dedicated Covid19 Care Centre or Covid19 hospital of NCT of Delhirdquo the memorandum readAlso ReadTaliban No extensions for US evacuations in AfghanistanKanv Bhalla an entrepreneur coordinating rehabilitation efforts on behalf of New Yorkbased philanthropist Mandeep Singh Sobti said ldquoAll 78 people who arrived from Kabul via Dushanbe underwent Covidtesting at the IGI airport Of them around 10 have tested positiverdquoSobti and Paramjeet Singh Anand through their Sobti Foundation have been making efforts to rehabilitate these distressed Afghans in coordination with the government of India Bhalla saidldquoSome people have tested positive for the infection However there is no clarity on their countrdquo said Puneet Singh Chandhok president of the Indian World Forum an organisation coordinating evacuation efforts with the Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian Air Force IAFSources at the LNJP Hospital said two Indian nationals who were among the people brought to India from Afghanistan have been admitted to its Covid19 ward after testing positiveThese two patients are male and their condition is stable They were brought to the LNJP Hospital yesterday an official source told PTIEarlier in the day 78 people including 46 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus flew into Delhi from Kabul via Dushanbe on an Air India flight along with three copies of Sikh scripture Guru Granth SahibUnion ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and V Muraleedharan received the three copies of the Sikh scripture and the batch of Afghan Sikhs at the Indira Gandhi International IGI AirportThe three copies of Guru Granth Sahib will be taken to Guru Arjan Dev Ji Gurdwara in New Mahavir Nagar according to ChandhokNearly 200 more Afghan Sikhs and Hindus are still stranded in Afghanistan These people have taken shelter at the Karte Parwan gurdwara in Kabul which is close to the airport he saidAccording to people sheltered in the gurdwara the 10kilometrelong drive to the international airport through various checkpoints is one of the biggest challenges in the rescue effortsAround 75 more Afghan Sikhs and Hindus are likely to be evacuated soon Chandhok addedTill Tuesday evening India had brought over 800 people from Afghanistan as part of the evacuation mission that began on August 16 a day after Kabul fell to the TalibanThousands of Afghans have been crowding around the Kabul airport for nearly a week in a desperate attempt to flee the country fearing the Talibans brutalityIndia is carrying out the evacuation missions in coordination with the US and several other friendly countriesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever