20 Dubai returnees test COVID-19 positive in 2 Karnataka districts

Mangaluru, May 15 () Twenty people who arrived here bya special repatriation flight from Dubai three days ago testedpositive for COVID-19 on Friday, officials said. Fifteen of them were from Dakshina Kannada (DK) districtand five from neighbouring Udupi district, which remainedCOVID-19 free for over a month, they said adding all had beenadmitted to designated hospitals. The returnees were taken to hotels and other facilitiesfor mandatory 14-day institutional quarantine after theylanded at the Mangaluru International Airport (MIA) on Tuesdaynight and their swab samples were subsequently sent for test.

The test results of 125 passengers from DK quarantinedhere, the district headquarters, have been received and ofthem 15 tested positive, district Deputy Commissioner Sindhu BRupesh said.

The tests will be repeated again for all after 12 days,she added.

Of the 179 passengers who arrived by the Air IndiaExpress Dubai-Mangaluru flight, as many as 49 belonged toUdupi and five others were from Uttara Kannada, she said.

The 15 patients here had been admitted to the WenlockHospital while the five to TMA Pai Hospital.

All arrangements are being made at the airport for thenext repatriation flight from Dubai scheduled to arrive hereon May 18, she said.

Indian nationals stranded in foreign countries due tocoronavirus lockdown halting of commercial air services arebeing evacuated under the Vande Bharat mission and the firstflight that landed here on Tuesday carried 179 people,including 38 pregnant women and 12 medical emergency cases.

Officials said a woman from Surathkal, who was undertreatment for severe acute respiratory illness (SARI), alsotested positive in DK district on Friday.

With this, the number of COVID-19 cases in DK has leapedto 50, while Udupi, which was a gree zone with no cases formore than a month, has five new cases now.

The number of active cases in DK district has gone up to29. So far, five persons have died of the infection while 16had recovered and discharged. MVGVS VS