Two hundred and fourteen passengers landed in the capital on April 28 from India, where the new coronavirus infections run wild and where over 204 thousand people have already died. The health system, with the contagious Indian variant running, is collapsing and the virus has infected more than 379,000 people in the last 24 hours. The Air India flight from New Delhi landed with 214 passengers on board – including 28 children and 3 infants with 130 bags in tow, who were taken to the military citadel of Cecchignola and to a Covid hotel in the capital for quarantine with three coaches and two army vans. Once in the decentralized Terminal 5 of the Rome airport of Fiumicino, they were immediately subjected to a swab. Test and quarantine also for crew members.
Out of control pandemic
And while Prime Minister Mario Draghi assures Italian support for New Dehli, the pandemic in India is out of control: 3,645 people have died in the last 24 hours and 18.38 million people have been infected in the country since the beginning of the emergency. And epidemiologists believe that the number of deaths is underestimated and is actually between two and five times higher than the official one. Above all, deaths in rural areas and those not occurring in health facilities, classified as deaths from “disease” and not from Covid, escape.
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The alarm of the governor of Lazio Zingaretti
And while in Italy two people who returned to Bergamo on April 7 after participating in the Hindu pilgrimage of Kumbh Mela tested positive, the passengers to be monitored arriving from New Dehli fill the seats usually used in the capital to keep the positives under control, so much so that the councilor for health of the Lazio Region Alessio D’Amato asked “areas where to carry out controlled quarantines, such as barracks”. And there was strong pressure from the governor of Lazio Roberto Zingaretti, who asked to “block flights” from the Indian subcontinent, “also soliciting initiatives that coordinate arrivals at a European level”. The race to help India has started: flights loaded with medicines and oxygen have already arrived from the United States to Saudi Arabia, which cannot be found in the country. And with the crematoria collapsing, there is also a shortage of wood used for the illegal pyres that burn everywhere in the night.
The first ordinance with exceptions for returns
Why did the passengers arrive from New Delhi, after a first order signed by the Minister of Health Roberto Speranza, which came into force on April 27, had already decreed the stop to flights from India? “It is forbidden to enter and transit through the national territory to persons who have stayed or transited in India in the previous fourteen days”, states the ordinance of 25 April 2021, in force since 27 April. But with three exceptions for the return to Italy: possession of the registered residence in Italy from a date prior to 25 April; the request to reach the domicile, home or residence of minor children, spouse or part of the civil union; o those authorized by the Ministry of Health, for imperative reasons of necessity, to enter Italy. The Farnesina’s website “Viaggiare Safely” confirms that “a general ban on entry into Italy is in force from 27 April to 12 May for those who have stayed-transited in India”. Anyone who has already arrived in Italy in the 14 days prior to the blockade must notify the Italian health authorities and undergo swabs and quarantines.
The new ordinance of Hope: stop from India and Bangladesh
On April 28, Minister Speranza signed a new ordinance banning entry, from any border point, to anyone who has stayed or passed through Bangladesh as well as India in the last 14 days. Anyone who has entered Italy in the previous 14 days, even if asymptomatic, must undergo a quarantine in a Covid hotel for ten days. A measure that has also strengthened the isolation measures for people residing in Italy authorized to return, with quarantine and tests for residents returning from India. Entry with the authorization of the Ministry of Health is allowed to those who, upon boarding, have a negative swab made in the previous 48 hours, undergo a swab on arrival, isolate themselves in a Covid hotel for quarantine and make a new swab at 10 days from arrival. Insulation also for the aircraft crew. And on April 29 a new plane is expected to arrive from India.