ON THE LOOSE

13 COVID-Positive Passengers on Flight From Italy Somehow Escape Quarantine

Nine passengers escaped the airport through unknown routes, while four others ran away from the hospital after they “tricked the health officials.”

At least 13 of the 125 passengers who tested positive upon landing in India on a chartered flight from Milan have vanished after somehow escaping mandatory quarantine. The flight to Amritsar became a superspreader disaster when most of the 179 passengers arrived with COVID, despite having to show a negative test result before boarding. A city official told BBC Punjabi that nine passengers escaped from the airport through unknown routes, while four others ran away from a hospital after they “tricked the health officials.” India reported more than 100,000 new cases on Friday, with the Omicron variant causing a surge in the past week. Police are planning to file complaints against all 13 passengers and cancel their passports. “If they don’t return by morning, we will publish their photos in the newspaper and register cases against them,” Gurpreet Singh Khera, the deputy commissioner of Amritsar, told NDTV.