A sixth of Air India’s staff have contracted the covid-19 virus, and 19 have died from it, according to civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri.
A total of 1,995 employees of Air India, which includes crew deployed for Vande Bharat repatriation missions, had contracted the virus till 1 February. Of them, 583 were hospitalized, Puri informed the Parliament last week.
Puri said in a written reply that though there have been no covid-19 related fatalities among aircraft crew at Air India, 19 ground employees have died. “The covid-19 test for the crew is undertaken as per Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) issued by the medical department of Air India, which is based on advisory guidelines issued by the government from time to time,” Puri added.
