Nearly every India-Toronto flight this month carried COVID+ passengers

One-third of international flights landing at YYZ with COVID-positive passengers since March 4 came from New Delhi

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Flights from India continue to be Canada’s top source of international passengers testing positive for COVID-19.

And data provided by Health Canada reveals nearly all of the twice-daily flights between Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport and Toronto Pearson Airport carried passengers infected with COVID-19.

Of the 106 COVID-infected flights that landed in Canada since March 4, 30 originated from Delhi — nine landing at Vancouver and 21 at YYZ.

Health Canada doesn’t indicate how many passengers tested positive on each flight, instead providing three-row ‘ranges’ of where an infected person sat on the plane.

While seven of the 21 Toronto-bound Delhi flights list the affected rows as ‘unknown,’ the rest show a minimum of six rows impacted by infected passengers, suggesting each flight carried more than one case.

Air Canada 43 on March 9 showed nearly half of the 42-row Boeing 787 Dreamliner affected, including the entire business-class and premium economy cabins, and all but eight rows of economy.

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Air India 187 on March 13 reported 22 rows of the Boeing 777-300ER’s 35-row economy cabin impacted.

Sixty-five infected International flights landed at Toronto over the past two weeks, including six flights each from Dubai and Istanbul, five from Doha, four from Frankfurt, three each from Addis Ababa and Kingston, Jamaica, two from Cairo, Amsterdam and Panama City, and one each from Islamabad, London Heathrow and Mexico City.

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Infected US flights have dropped off, amounting to just four over the past two weeks — two from Atlanta and one each from Detroit and Fort Lauderdale.

Measures taken by the Canadian government to stem the flow of COVID-19 arriving in Canada by air seem to have little effect.

As of Feb. 14, air travellers over the age of five must provide proof of a negative molecular COVID-19 test before being allowed to board Canada-bound flights.

That requirement was extended to those entering via land border crossings on Feb. 21, the same day Canadian air travellers returning from abroad were required — at their own expense — to quarantine for three days in one of 20 government-approved hotels.

Passengers are also required to take a COVID-19 test upon arrival.

On Thursday, Health Canada told the Sun data on those test results weren’t yet available.

bpassifiume@postmedia.com
@bryanpassifiume