Planes flying to ensure ICMR kits to test COVID-19 reach on time: Civil Aviation Minister

The first flight on Friday morning has already delivered 1.4 tonnes of ICMR kits from Delhi to Aizawl, Kolkata and Hyderabad, wrote Hardeep Singh Puri in a series of tweets

Hardeep Singh Puri being screened by a medic for novel coronavirus (COVID-19), in Hyderabad, Saturday, March 14, 2020.

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Saturday said aircraft are crisscrossing the Indian airspace to ensure that the COVID-19 testing kits of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) reach their destinations on time amidst a 21-day nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

In a series of tweets, the minister gave the relevant details.

“The first flight on Friday morning has already delivered 1.4 tonnes of ICMR kits from Delhi to Aizawl, Kolkata and Hyderabad while another such movement of ICMR kits is in progress from Mumbai to Pune, Bengaluru & Thiruvananthapuram,” he wrote on Twitter.

Another aircraft is delivering the ICMR kits from Delhi to Pune and Patna, from where it will possibly bring back testing kits of a private firm to the national capital, which will then be flown to Ahmedabad, Mr. Puri said.

“In the fourth flight an ATR aircraft is delivering ICMR kits from Kolkata to Dibrugarh,” he stated.

“We are locked down, but not bogged down. Our aviation officials & professionals are working round the clock with determination & patience. The aircraft are crisscrossing the skies to ensure that ICMR kits for testing COVID-19 reach on time,” Mr. Puri said.