Airlines must not carry people with 'home quarantined' stamps, says Health Ministry

The Health Ministry in India has asked Indian airlines not to carry those with ‘home quarantine’ stamps. After India’s ban on international flights came into effect, the Union Health Ministry has asked Indian airlines not to allow people with the quarantine stamps on their planes.

Last Sunday, the ministry asked Indian airlines to allow passengers with home quarantine stamps to board domestic transit flights so that they can reach their homes or final destinations.
However, the ministry mentioned that they believe that such passengers (coming from COVID-19 affected regions) must be home by now and following home quarantine instructions of 14 days. People who came back from such places were getting stamped with ‘home quarantined’ stamps, mentioning their period of isolation too.

The Airport Health Organisation (APHO) told airlines, "As all international flights have stopped on Sunday (March 22, 2020), the home quarantined passengers were permitted till now to travel on connecting flights to reach their final destination within India. They should've already proceeded on the connecting flights by now. With the stoppage of all international services 24 hours back, there is no rationale in carrying these passengers anymore".
They further requested the domestic airlines to kindly not accept any passengers with ‘Home Quarantine’ stamps anymore. And, in case of any particular circumstance, people will have to be “cleared by APHOs positively and discussed with the Regional Medical Officers".

As of today, the COVID-19 positive case in India has gone up to 649 and the virus has claimed 13 lives. Considering the rising case of positive cases, the Indian Prime Minister has locked down the whole country till April 14, 2020.