Sudden spurt in number of foreign returnees

GAYA: International flight operations under the ‘Vande Bharat Mission’ and ‘Repatriation Flights’ saw a sudden surge in the number of foreign returnees last week.
While in one month between May 18 and June 17, 150 Bihar and Jharkhand natives came back from abroad per day, the number went up to about 450 returnees per day during the week beginning June 21.The trend, sources said, is likely to continue as only about one-third of the nearly 25,000 people who registered themselves for evacuation from abroad have so far returned.
It is necessary for these returnees, many of whom suffered job losses in the Middle East due to Covid-19 pandemic, to go for a weeklong institutional quarantine in Bodh Gaya followed by a home quarantine for another seven days.
These people are being brought back under the Vande Bharat Mission as well as ‘Repatriation Flights’. While Vande Bharat Mission flights are operated by Air India and its subsidiaries, the Repatriation Flights are operated by Foreign Airlines.
According to Gaya airport director Dilip Kumar, altogether 7,761 stranded people have reached here till June 27 by 52 special flights. However, a press release issued by the PRD put the number of returnees at 7650 and the number of flights at 51.