The Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Tuesday said that pilots and crew members will be “medically unfit” for flying in an aircraft for 48 hours after receiving the coronavirus vaccination.
In a set of guidelines, the aviation regulator said that pilots and crew members will be allowed to resume their flying duties if there are no symptoms 48 hours after the inoculation. Aircrew will also be monitored for 30 minutes at the vaccination centres for severe allergic or unusual response, it said.
If the pilots experience any symptoms after 48 hours, they will be treated by a physician. “Such pilots can be declared unfit for flying duties provided they are asymptomatic without any medication and a ‘medical cure certificate’ to this effect be obtained,” the aviation regulatory body said.
It said if medical unfitness period persists for over 14 days, then a “special medical examination” will be required to ascertain fitness for flying of the aircrew.
India began its coronavirus vaccination drive on January 16, starting with inoculating healthcare workers and frontline workers. The second phase of the drive began on March 1 in which persons aged more than 60 years and those above 45 years with co-morbidities were administered the vaccine shots.
A total of 2,30,08,733 vaccines have been administered so far. Of these, 20,19,723 were given on Monday.
Meanwhile, India on Tuesday registered 15,388 new coronavirus cases, pushing the country’s tally to 1,12,44,786, data from the health ministry showed. The toll jumped by 77 to 1,57,930. The active cases went up to 1,87,462, constituting 1.67% of the total infections. The recoveries reached 1,08,99,394.
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