Kazan tourists from Antalya met at the airport with test tubes
Tourists are safe
Today, it is 6 days since Kazan was allowed international flights (from August 20 — editor's note), and the Tatarstan capital has already taken the sixth flight from Antalya. The airliner arrived at the city's international airport on 24 August, and a “surprise” from the doctors who met them awaited the passengers. The tourists were offered to get tested for COVID-19 immediately, and many did so.
According to the rested residents of Tatarstan, the Bosphorus country also adheres to security measures to avoid the spread of coronavirus, but some restrictions are already being lifted. For example, the distance of 1,5 metres when seating in aircraft is not observed, but the mask and glove mode is still in force. Rospotrebnadzor warned about mandatory requirements for those who have crossed the border. Taking the flight from Antalya, Kazan Airport demonstrated the organisation of sanitary and quarantine control conducted by specialists of Rospotrebnadzor of the Republic of Tatarstan to prevent the import of coronavirus. The specialists of the department told about remote control of arrivals on international flights using thermal imagers and the possibility of testing for Covid-19 for those arriving in Russia.
The head of the department of sanitary protection of the territory, Luiza Borisova, said that, according to the decree of Chief Sanitary Doctor Anna Popova, those who arrived from abroad no later than three days after registration must fill out a form on the unified portal of state and municipal services.
Within three days after arrival, one need to be examined, pass a test for the new COVID-19 by PCR and upload the test results to the public services portal.
The registration and filling out of the results of analyses of citizens are tracked. Lists of citizens who did not register and did not provide results will be transferred to the ministry of internal affairs. Further, penalties will be applied to violators. Thus, the citizens who violate the decree of the chief physician of the Russian Federation can be punished with a fine of 15 to 40 thousand rubles.
Luiza Borisova stressed: “If after arrival within 14 days a person feels unwell, fever, SARS symptoms, is feeling bad — they do not need to go anywhere without visiting a medical organization, they need to call a doctor.” She also appealed to citizens not to postpone the examination after leaving the airport.
Foreign citizens arriving in Russia must submit negative test results for coronavirus. The validity of this certificate is no more than three days, i.e. 72 hours before boarding the flight.
Test for coronavirus at the airport
Tourists arriving from abroad had the opportunity take a coronavirus test right at the airport. Medics were already waiting for them to arrive. Doctors measured the temperature of the passengers who landed. In case of illness, they were ready to send them to the hospital for examination.
“We rested very well. Cool sea, wonderful Turks. There were small restrictions, but it did not spoil the holiday at all," Leysan Makhmetova, a tourist who arrived, shared her impressions with the correspondent of Realnoe Vremya.
The resident of Tatarstan believes that it is very convenient to take the test directly at the Kazan Airport. She was worried that she would not have time to do tests within three days after returning home because all paid clinics have an appointment for several days in advance. Therefore, I decided to take advantage of this opportunity and passed the test immediately upon arrival in the territory of the airport: “Within three days, the results of the tests will be ready. I think everything will be fine, and we can continue to rest.”
Her example was followed by about half of the passengers who arrived. This is not surprising because the procedure is mandatory, and it is much more convenient to pass it without waiting in line, without spending extra time (and money — the service will cost much cheaper than in commercial laboratories).
“The holiday was great. In Turkey, there are also masks, distance, hand disinfection. Hand disinfection is just everywhere, and it's great," said another tourist Farit and Alfiya Salikhovs.
Resumption of flight connection
It was not easy to send Russians, and in particular Tatarstan citizens, to such a popular holiday in Turkey in the conditions of the pandemic. However, the two governments still managed to reach an agreement.
Thus, on July 15, the Turkish ministry of transport and infrastructure announced that an agreement had been reached with the Russian authorities to resume air traffic between the countries.
From August 1, Russia started to resume international flights. The first countries where Russians could fly were the UK, Turkey and Tanzania. Flights were operated from airports in Moscow, Moscow Oblast, Saint Petersburg and Rostov-on-Don.
Since August 20, Russia has officially allowed international flights from Kazan, Kaliningrad and Novosibirsk. On August 21, the first plane left the capital of Tatarstan for Antalya.
The fears of health doctors in relation to tourists are reasonable. Earlier, Rospotrebnadzor reported that imported cases of coronavirus registered in recent days in the republic are associated with the trip of Tatarstan residents to resorts. However, most often residents of the republic imported coronavirus from the Krasnodar Krai. But there was also one reported case that came from Turkey.
The tourists themselves said that the police calls and comes home to them because they have not fulfilled the requirements of the sanitary doctors.
