by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
A Lokmat exclusive story
Rahul Gandhi underwent Coronavirus Test at Airport
Returned to India from Italy on Feb 29
Harish Gupta
New Delhi, March 4
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi underwent Coronavirus test at T-3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) as soon as he returned to India last week.
Highly placed sources in the government say that Rahul Gandhi followed the drill issued by the Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued for the passengers coming from Italy and other countries to be thoroughly checked for Covid-19.
Rahul Gandhi boarded the Air India flight no 138 from Milan on February 29 evening and landed at the IGIA in the morning of Saturday. Since Italy is among the watch list of nations for Coronavirus, all passengers disembarking were requested to undergo necessary tests. Rahul Gandhi had been returning to the country after two weeks of stay abroad and the world was rising to fight the Covid-19. Since Rahul Gandhi is a Z-plus security cover VIP and a member of the Lok Sabha, he was offered all due courtesies. But sources say that Rahul Gandhi decided to follow the drill along with other passengers and volunteered to follow all instructions in this regard. The check up went on for 20-25 minutes even as his personal staff and security personnel were getting anxious due to abnormal delay. They were keen to rush through the process. But Rahul Gandhi signaled to them that the systems must be followed, say these sources.
Rahul Gandhi was also briefed extensively at the airport by the health authorities at the airport do's and don'ts with regard to the Covid-19.
Since Italy has emerged lately as the Europe's global Covid-19 hub, the Indian authorities have not only suspended the visa facilities including visa on arrival. It was also decided all passengers disembarking at Indian airports from Italy and other such named countries be thoroughly checked.
Sources say after the tests, Rahul Gandhi left the airport smiling. He also thanked the health department officials who were deployed for these tests.
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