Omicron: Delhi airport updates testing capacity, 120 PCR machines installed

After chaotic scenes were witnessed at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) due to new international air travel guidelines, introduced to keep at bay Omicron, the new Covid-19 variant, the airport authorities said on Monday that testing capacity has been updated to ensure smooth flow of the international arrival process.

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“We have updated testing capacity at international arrival with deployment of 120 Rapid PCR machines, taking hourly capacity to 500-600 per hour with a Turn Around Time of less than 60 mins. Further, there is provision for approx. 500 RTPCR tests/hr. This additional capacity will further smoothen the international arrival process,” the official Delhi Airport handle informed through Twitter.

Last Saturday, the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) said that 20 dedicated counters have been set up at the countries busiest airport to facilitate a faster testing process for passengers arriving from countries classified by the Union health ministry as ‘high-risk’ for the Omicron variant.

Also Read | 20 counters at Delhi airport to test passengers from ‘high-risk’ countries

Long queues have been witnessed at the IGIA since December 1, when the new guidelines kicked in. For several passengers, the on-arrival testing is reported to have taken as many as six hours. On Monday, civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia directed DIAL, which operates the airport, to implement better crowd management strategies.

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Thus far, nearly two dozen cases of variant B.1.1.529 have been confirmed in India, including one in the national capital. The variant, which was classified as a Variant of Concern (VoC) by the World Health Organization (WHO) on November 26 and named ‘Omicron,’ also led to a delay in resumption of international regular commercial passenger flights, which was scheduled for December 15. International flight operations have been under suspension since March last year, when the first nationwide Covid-19 lockdown was announced.