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Five Air India pilots and two staffers of the Air India Engineering Services Limited (AIESL) have tested positive for COVID-19, airline sources said on Sunday.
While an official statement from Air India was awaited, sources said that all the five were asymptomatic and had been home quarantined. Officials said that the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) would issue a statement shortly.
Also read: Coronavirus | Air India pilots flag poor protective equipment
Though these Mumbai-based pilots had operated cargo flights between Guangzhou and Delhi carrying medical supplies and equipment, officials said it was unlikely that they had gotten exposed to the virus on duty since it had been close to 20 days since the flight.
The pilots discovered that they were positive on being tested for COVID-19 on Friday in line with the airline delegating them with flying for the Vande Bharat Mission to repatriate Indians from various parts of the world. The reports came in on Saturday.
Two of the five Mumbai-based pilots had operated flights on April 18, while the others flew even earlier. Sources in the airline raised doubts over the testing kits.
Also read: COVID-19 | SpiceJet pilot tests positive, staff sent on home quarantine
Officials said that two staff of the AIESL had also tested positive on May 7. These two, a technician and a driver had gone to the hangar of a private jet operator, some of whose private aircraft are also maintained by engineers of AIESL within the Mumbai airport premises. Results of tests conducted by the corporate house showed that the engineers were COVID-19 positive.
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