Muscat: India will operate 64 flights for days starting May 7 to bring back around 15,000 nationals from 13 countries. Starting May 7, India will be evacuating over 1,90,000 people in the first phase of the evacuation starting with the focus on the Gulf region.

From Oman, two flights will be operated to Kochi (May 9) with 250 passengers and to Chennai on May 12 with 250 passengers.

Official sources said the fares for Muscat to Kochi and Muscat to Chennai would be around 70 rials (14000 inr).

These special flights would be operated by Air India and its subsidiary, Air India Express, to repatriate Indians from 12 countries—the UAE, the UK, the US, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman—said the officials.

India is likely to operate 15 flights from overseas to Kerala, 11 to Tamil Nadu, seven to Maharashtra, 11 to Delhi, seven to Telangana, five to Gujarat, three each to Karnataka and Jammu and Kashmir, and one each to Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

The flights will bring citizens from the US, Philippines, Bahrain, Singapore, UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh and the UK.

Ten flights are likely to operate on May 7 and are expected to bring back nearly 2,300 citizens from UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UK, Singapore, Malaysia, the US, Philippines and Bangladesh.

A total of 2,050 stranded Indians are expected to be brought back on the second day from Bahrain, UAE, Malaysia, the US, Kuwait, Singapore, and the UK. Similarly, another 2,050 people are planned to be brought back on day three, 1,850 people on day four, 2,200 on day five, 2,500 on day six and 1,850 on day seven.

As per the finalised standard operating procedure for such flights and ships, medical screening of passengers would be done before boarding. Only asymptomatic passengers would be allowed to travel. On reaching the destination, everyone would have to register on the Arogya 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 test would be done after 14 days and further action would be taken according to health protocols.

“State Governments are being advised to make arrangements, including for testing, quarantine and onward movement of the returning Indians in their respective States,” the Indian government said in a statement today.