Nearly half the 150 passengers booked on Australia's first repatriation flight from India were barred from boarding on Friday, after they or their close contacts tested positive for the coronavirus, an Australian government source said. Tests have returned positive results for at least 40 passengers, or about 26% of the total, said the source, who sought anonymity as he was not allowed to speak to media, a figure much higher than the 3.5% seen in March. By late afternoon, Australian media said that number was rising, with 9News and Sky reporting 48 infections and about 25 close contacts. Qantas, which is operating the flights on behalf of DFAT, directed queries to the government. It is not yet clear if the authorities had a stand-by list of passengers for the rest of the nearly 9,000 Australians and permanent residents looking to get home from Covid-ravaged India. Media said DFAT was trying to accommodate other passengers, but the requirement of two negative test results in order to board was making that difficult.<br/>
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Scott Morrison says his government will work with Qantas to ensure no more COVID-positive passengers board flights to Australia. However, the Prime Minister acknowledged India was a difficult environment to work in after about half of the passengers on the first new repatriation flight to Darwin were barred from boarding. Morrison’s comments follow an Australian man who returned from India receiving a positive nasal swab test result for COVID-19 after landing in Darwin, despite trying to get the result from the testing lab, Commonwealth officials and Qantas before his departure. The airline has told the global diagnostic agency which is processing pre-departure test results that it must use accredited laboratories after the ABC revealed pathology lab CRL Diagnostics, had lost its accreditation from India’s laboratory board last month. Prabhjot Singh, who arrived in Darwin on Saturday, has since tested negative. “I got a knock on my door from the doctor saying your PCR test was positive, we have to put you in a special facility,” he said of his arrival in Darwin. “I was more stressed, I didn’t want to bring this to Australia and bring this to my family.” The first repatriation flight landed in Darwin on Saturday with 80 of its estimated 150 scheduled passengers. More than 70 were barred from flying after either testing positive during their mandatory three-day hotel stay in Delhi or being listed as close contacts of those cases.<br/>