Two air traffic control teams of Mumbai, Delhi airport quarantined after staff tests positive for Covid-19

ATCOs, who help pilots navigate, are working on a weekly rotational basis in a bid to prevent mass Covid-19 infection. Mumbai and Delhi have 320 and 380 ATCOs, respectively. Each team has around 25 ATCOs.

Two teams of air traffic controllers (ATCOs) in Delhi and Mumbai have been put under home quarantine from Tuesday after an official of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the daughter of an employee in the housekeeping department tested coronavirus disease (Covid-19) positive.

Workers cleaning a plane at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, in New Delhi on Sunday, May 24, 2020. (Amal KS/HT PHOTO)

An assistant general manager (AGM) of the AAI in Delhi tested Covid-19 positive on Tuesday. In Mumbai, an employee from the housekeeping department is suspected to have contracted SARS-CoV-2, which causes the disease, after his daughter was infected last Saturday.

ATCOs, who help pilots navigate, are working on a weekly rotational basis in a bid to prevent mass Covid-19 infection. Mumbai and Delhi have 320 and 380 ATCOs, respectively. Each team has around 25 ATCOs.

The group (batch D) of ATCOs in Mumbai has been put under group quarantine from Tuesday.

“One of our housekeeping staff is suspected to be Covid-19 positive. His test report is expected by Tuesday evening. The team of ATCOs, who last worked with him, has been put under home quarantine from Tuesday,” said a senior Mumbai airport official.

“The AAI AGM is under home quarantine after his second test result showed him Covid-19 positive on Tuesday. He is running a mild fever. However, his wife has tested negative,” an AAI official said.