India’s aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued on Thursday nationwide directives to all airlines, airports, and other industry stakeholders to ensure passengers’ compliance with COVID-19 prevention protocols, following a verdict issued by the Delhi High Court on Friday 3 June ordering the directorate to take strict actions against violators.
Stringent measures
Under the verdict, India’s civil aviation regulator was ordered to ensure strict COVID-19 guidelines are in place, to curb the recent surge in COVID-19 cases across the country.
According to the latest directives, airlines must ensure that passengers wear their face masks throughout the flight, and only remove them under exceptional circumstances.
Moreover, regular announcements must be made to remind passengers to follow proper hand hygiene, face-covering and other precautionary protocols, and extra face masks must be available and should be provided to passengers if required.
Unruly passengers
Passengers who fail to follow the instructions on the ground will be offloaded before departure. Meanwhile, those who refuse to wear a mask or violate the “COVID-19 Protocol” after repeated warnings during the flight may be considered “Unruly” as defined in paragraph 3.1 of Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) and must be handled according to the procedure provided in the mentioned CAR, DGCA highlighted.
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Airports
Airports across the country have also had their share of strict guidelines, in a bid to contain the virus’ spread and avoid further hikes. Airport operators were directed to increase the frequency of announcements and enhance surveillance to ensure that passengers are following COVID-19 protocols at all times.
Meanwhile, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and other Police personnel at the airport entrance have been directed to ensure that no passenger enters the airport premises without a face mask.
Passengers who fail to comply “should be fined as per the respective State Law where the airport is located and may be handed over to the Security Agencies for dealing with the matter as per the applicable law on the subject,” the directive added.
A sudden upsurge
The stringent measures are in response to a sudden hike in reported COVID-19 cases across the country, particularly, in Maharashtra, Kerala, Delhi and Karnataka.
On Thursday alone, India reported 7,240 new infections, marking a 40% increase and bringing the tally up to 29,000 active cases country-wide, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare revealed.
“There are few states which are reporting a higher contribution to India’s cases indicating the possibility of a localised spread of infection,” Union Health Secretary, Rajesh Bhushan stated, adding that these states need to follow a risk assessment-based approach to the public health responses without losing the gains made so far in the fight against the pandemic.
The recent hike in reported cases is expected to hamper India’s aviation sector growth, which was forecasted to reach 6% over the upcoming years.
