China News Service, May 14th. According to a report from Australia.com, on the afternoon of the 14th local time, Qantas planes prepared to pick up the first batch of Australians stranded in India took off from Darwin International Airport.
The plane will return to Darwin on the morning of the 15th, and the people on board will be sent to an isolation facility for isolation.
Data map: On May 9, 2021 local time, in New Delhi, India, the streets under the "closed city" were empty.
Image source: Visual China
According to reports, about 200 Australians returning to Australia from India will begin a two-week quarantine. They are the most vulnerable group of the 9,000 Australians stranded in India.
What is worrying is that more than 40 people who originally planned to board the plane were unable to board the plane because they tested positive for the new crown virus, and 30 people were unable to board the plane because they were close contacts.
In this regard, the federal government is currently working hard to find other passengers to fill the empty seats on the flight back to Australia.
According to reports, passengers need to receive a negative result of the new coronavirus test before they can board the government-organized flight back to Australia.
Northern Territory Chief Executive Ganner confirmed on the 14th that the quarantine facility will accommodate 2,000 quarantined persons by the end of June and the quarantine period will be two weeks.
"We expect that in the rest of May, 450 people will return to Australia from India and 600 will return to Australia from London and Istanbul," Ganner told the media.
Ganner said that due to adequate preparations, returnees and other people will remain safe.
He said that Australians returning home will be tested by PCR, which he called the "gold standard" for screening for the new coronavirus.
Ganner also said that Northern Territory and Federal officials have been working together to reduce the risk of infection.