Highlights
- The woman had tested negative in India before travelling
- She was travelling with two children, whose test results are pending
- More flights are scheduled from India in the coming weeks
More than 180 Australians who had been stranded in India were repatriated on a special Qantas flight from Delhi which landed in Darwin on Tuesday.
The Department of the Northern Territory Chief Minister confirmed to SBS Malayalam that one of the passengers tested positive to COVID-19 while in quarantine.
“An Australian woman who arrived on the Commonwealth Government repatriation flight from India yesterday has tested positive for COVID-19, while in quarantine at the Howard Springs Centre for National Resilience,” the department said.
The 31-year-old woman was travelling with two children. Both were also tested for coronavirus, but results are still pending.
The woman had undergone a coronavirus test in India before departure but tested negative. However, her test in Darwin confirmed that she has contracted with the virus.
It is mandatory for all passengers on the repatriation flights to submit COVID-19 negative test results.
The woman has been moved to an isolation room.
The woman is asymptomatic and remains well. She has been moved to an isolation room and remains under the care of the AUSMAT at the Centre for National Resilience at Howard Springs.
Professor Len Notaras, executive director of the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre told the ABC that the woman was surprised to know about the positive test since she was asymptomatic.
However, he did not reveal which Australian state she lives in.
"For the purpose of privacy I really can't get into that, but I can say she's a returning citizen and returning to her family in another state," Professor Notaras said.
Eight repatriation flights have been arranged to help Australians stuck overseas due to the COVID-19 pandemic and border closures return home. Source: Getty
All passengers brought to Darwin are quarantined in the Howards Springs Centre, for which they will be charged.
The flight from Delhi which landed Tuesday was the second of the eight repatriation flights - four of which will come from India - announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
Last week another Qantas flight from London brought back more than 160 Australians.
This is the first positive case among the 350-odd passengers brought back.
Three more flights are scheduled from India in the coming weeks.
India has recorded almost eight million coronavirus cases yet, with more than 110,000 deaths. The latest numbers show that new cases are declining in India.
Even though the country has opened up in almost all sectors, regular international air travel hasn’t resumed yet.
The federal government has earlier confirmed that the largest number of Australians stranded overseas were in India.
