Violation Of Govt Guidelines: 4-Year-Old Boy Forced To Take COVID Test At Airport

Picture courtesy The Indian Express

Bengaluru: In blatant violation of government guidelines, a four-year-old boy was forced to take a pre-departure COVID-19 test at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) here.

According to a report in The Times of India, the boy and his parents – all US citizens – were travelling to Port Blair for a vacation. But the ground staff of domestic airline Go First refused to let the four-year-old accompany his parents without providing a negative COVID test report.

Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare guidelines state that children below five years are exempted from undergoing pre-departure and post-arrival COVID tests at Indian airports. Obviously the airline staff were not aware of government protocols and rules.

“I explained to the air staffer that protocol issued by the Union Health Ministry specifically exempts children below the age of five from RT-PCR tests, but he refused to listen. He rudely replied that ‘if the boy tests negative, he flies with you’,” TOI quoted the boy’s father Rajdeep Ganguly as saying.

Ganguly, an IT professional, then asked the airline staff to show the clause which states that COVID-negative report is mandatory for the four-year-old, but they refused.