New Delhi: The scenes from Delhi Airport are making a mockery of the COVID-19 protocols and concerns regarding the new Omicron variant as scores of passengers are being forced to wait for long hours in a crowded space.
The passengers are paying a heavy price for flying into Delhi from abroad under the new rules aimed at stemming the spread of Omicron variant as they are being made to wait up to 8 hours in heavily crowed spaces and shell out ₹ 3,500 in case they need rapid COVID-19 test, reports NDTV.
Twitter/ Prakhar Mathur
Narrating the exasperating experience, a passenger told NDTV that people are having to spend up to two hours in queue to get themselves tested.
Scenes from the international flights terminal featured long queues of masked-up passengers waiting to get tested with no sign of social distancing, with some of them describing the airport as a "hotspot".
Twitter/ Sadique Anjum
Passengers have two options to get tested - they can pay ₹ 3,500 for a Rapid PCR test in which the result comes within 2 hours, while the other alternative is taking a regular RT-PCR test for ₹ 500 and spending 6-8 hours awaiting the result.
The long waiting time for the regular RT-PCR test result, especially after a tiring flight, makes the first alternative a natural choice, despite the high cost.
Besides, the high cost the two hour wait at the immigration desks, which is also crowded, adds to the miseries of the passengers. Also, there are questions about as to how efficiently the surveillance norms are being implemented.
While the passenger's boarding pass carries a seven-day home quarantine stamp, no phone calls or any other form of follow-up communication has been made in the past 24 hours.
