Srinagar, June 1: A total of 4.3 tonnes of Covid-19 vaccines and seven oxygen generator plants have been received by the Srinagar International Airport during the last two months, an Airports Authority of India (AAI) official said on Tuesday.
“A total of 138 boxes (4361.33 kg) of COVID-19 vaccines (Covishield and Covaxin) have been received through various airlines till May 28, 2021, at Srinagar International Airport,” the AAI official said.
The official said a cargo of seven oxygen generator plants of 7125 Litres Per Minute (LPM) capacity, airlifted from Frankfurt in Germany was also delivered at the Srinagar Airport.
The AAI authorities at the airport also said that almost 95 percent of its employees had been vaccinated against COVID-19 so far.
Director, Srinagar Airport, Santosh Dhoke told the Greater Kashmir that almost 95 per cent vaccination of the airport staff- including AAI officials, CISF personnel guarding the aerodrome and the airline officials- has been carried out through nine vaccination camps held so far. “We have been constantly focussing to bring the entire staff under the vaccine cover. We have successfully held nine vaccination camps during which almost 95% of the airport employees have been vaccinated,” Dhoke said. Dhoke said the health department of J&K administration has conducted the vaccination at the airport.
Earlier a tweet from the official Twitter handle of the Airport had said that RT-PCR testing was being done at the airport free of cost in order to ensure safety of passengers. “Srinagar Airport ensures the safety of flyers by conducting RT-PCR or Rapid Antigen Test, free of cost as per the state Covid protocols. The staff also makes sincere efforts to ensure that the passengers follow COVID19 appropriate behaviour for safer travel experiences,” the tweet said.
It may be mentioned that as many as 2429 travellers at the Srinagar Airport had tested positive for Covid-19 during April this year, making it the month with highest reported cases at the airport in the last one year. The second highest number of positive cases at the airport was reported in March with 896 passengers having tested positive.
In terms of the positivity rate at Srinagar Airport, 52 positive Covid-19 cases were reported from the airport in May 2020 while as in June 135 cases, July 234 cases, August 602, September 793 cases, October 399, November 378 positive cases and December 268 cases were reported from the Srinagar Airport. In January this year 303 cases and in February 557 positive cases were reported from the airport.
After witnessing a sharp increase in passenger arrivals and positivity rate during March and April, a dip in traveller footfalls at the Srinagar International Airport was registered last month by almost 70 per cent. As per official data, the daily passenger arrivals at the Srinagar Airport have reduced to just 2000 to 2200 during May from a whopping 6000 to 8000 arrivals witnessed during March and April. The boom in tourism since December, 2020 had seen almost 11 lakh passenger footfalls at the airport between November 2020 and March 2021.