23 days after being stuck on the quarantined cruise ship Diamond Princess, Mumbai girl Sonali Thakkar finally made her way to India on February 27. For the last 23 days, the 24-year-old was stuck in the Japanese port of Yokohoma. She was a crew member on Diamond Princess cruise. Thakkar has finally left for India on a special Air India flight chartered by the government.
The matter came to notice after a passenger who got off Diamond Princess was tested positive for novel coronavirus. This led to the authorities quarantining the ship at Yokohama from February 3 and testing the crew members. Sonali Thakkar, a resident of Mumbai's Mira Road was among the people stuck on the ship.
Her father, Dinesh Thakkar had tweeted a video of her daughter asking assistance from the government earlier this month. Alongside, he had also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring his daughter home.
After which, on February 26, former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Kirit Somaiya announced on Twitter that Thakkar and 137 other Indians had boarded the chartered flight sent by the Indian government to bring them back.
Soon after that, the former BJP MP also informed that Thakkar's flight landed on February 27 at 4:45 am at Delhi. He tweeted,
"Sonali Thakar's father Dinesh Thakar (Bhayandar, Mumbai) confirmed with me that Air India flight landed today 4:45 am at Delhi."
In the meantime, Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope, on Wednesday, said that passengers from Iran and Italy arriving at Mumbai International Airport will also be screened for the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) infection.
The health department of Maharashtra said that a total of 53,981 travellers who arrived here by 441 flights have undergone screening at the international airport for novel coronavirus since January 18, 2020.
Earlier, a 29-year-old woman from Vashi was placed in quarantine for suspected coronavirus after she returned from a trip through Beijing, Bangkok and a Malaysian city. Luckily, the patient was tested negative for coronavirus.