COVID-19: ICMR Kits Being Flown To Major Centres Countrywide
Union Minister of Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri disclosed that the first flight carried 1.4 tonnes of ICMR kits from Delhi to Aizawl, Kolkata and Hyderabad on Friday and the second lot of ICMR kits is ongoing. They would be delivered at Pune, Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram, he pointed out in a tweet.
The first flight on Friday morning has already delivered 1.4 tonnes of ICMR kits from Delhi to Aizwal, Kolkata & Hyderabad while another such movement of ICMR kits is in progress from Mumbai to Pune, Bengaluru & Thiruvananthapuram.
— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) March 28, 2020
Hardeep Puri's tweet said that "a third flight would carry these kits from Delhi to Pune and Patna and would bring back testing kits of a private firm to Delhi which will then be flown to Ahmedabad." ICMR kits from Kolkata to Dibrugarh would be delivered in the fourth flight, he stated.
A third such flight is delivering ICMR kits from Delhi to Pune & Patna from where it will possibly bring back testing kits of a pvt firm to Delhi which will then be flown to Ahmedabad. In the fourth flight an ATR is delivering ICMR kits from Kolkata to Dibrugarh.
— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) March 28, 2020
The Union Minister for Civil Aviation also commended the efforts of the airlines in playing a key role in the efforts to combat COVID-19. He revealed that ATRs of Alliance Air have been kept on standby at major airports.
More than 850 cases of Coronavirus have been reported across the country and while 66 have recovered, 19 deaths have been recorded. The country has been on a lockdown since Wednesday, which according to experts, is the only way to isolate and contain the spread of COVID-19.