The second phase of Vande Bharat Mission — the largest evacuation exercise by air in world history — will be reportedly conducted between May 16 and May 22.
The second phase of evacuation is much more massive than the first as 149 special flights are being arranged to bring back stranded Indian citizens from 31 countries amidst the Coronavirus pandemic, sources quoted by ANI have said.
In the first leg of evacuation, the national carrier Air India along with its subsidiary Air India Express is operating a total of 64 flights — 42 by Air India and 24 by Air India Express — to 12 countries to repatriate 14,800 Indians back. The exercise began on May 7 and will end tomorrow.
According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, as many as 6,037 Indians have been flown back home in 31 inbound flights operated by Air India and Air India Express under the massive ‘Vande Bharat Mission’ in five days.
These special flights are being operated to the UAE, the UK, the US, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Oman.
Meanwhile, in the second phase, the government is expected to operate 13 flights to the US, 9 to the UK, 10 to Canada, 11 to the United Arab Emirates, 9 to Saudi Arabia, six to Russia and seven to Australia, There will also be flights to France, Italy, Germany, Ireland and several nations of southeast Asia and other Gulf nations, an NDTV report said.
Also, there will reportedly be one flight each to neighbouring countries, Bangladesh and Nepal.
The government had announced the two-phase mission earlier this month.
The huge operation is being carried out in close coordination by several ministries – External Affairs, Defence, Home Affairs and Civil aviation– and various state governments.
The Centre had on May 4 announced plans to begin a phased repatriation of its citizens stranded abroad from May 7.
Under the ‘Vande Bharat Mission’, the government is facilitating the return of Indian nationals stranded abroad on compelling grounds in a phased manner.
Each flight will have between 200 and 300 passengers, depending upon the aircraft, to ensure that social distancing is maintained. Before boarding the special flights, the passengers need to declare whether they have fever, cough, diabetes or any respiratory disease.
The government has stated that only asymptomatic passengers would be allowed to travel.
On reaching the destination, everyone would have to register on the Aarogya Setu app. Everyone would be medically screened. After scrutiny, they would be quarantined for 14 days, either in a hospital or in an institutional quarantine on payment-basis, by the concerned State government.
COVID-19 test would be done after 14 days and further action would be taken according to health protocols.
India has been under lockdown since 25 March to curb the spread of the coronavirus and it will continue till 17 May. All commercial passenger flights have been suspended for this period.
Around four lakh Indians in the Gulf region have registered with the Indian missions to return to India. They include those who have either lost their jobs due to the global lockdown and those whose contracts were over or those who have no jobs. Also, there were women who were pregnant.