Qantas stands by tests before India repatriation flight
Qantas has stood by tests that saw 72 people kicked off a repatriation flight from India to Australia, despite the lab being suspended.
National
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Qantas has defended bumping passengers from a repatriation flight from India over positive COVID-19 tests, despite claims by some the testing was faulty.
Around 70 people were denied from boarding the Qantas flight to Australia last week, after 46 people tested positive to the virus in pre-flight testing and another 26 were identified as close contacts.
But doubt was cast over the pre-flight testing when 12 of those passengers sought their own tests, which they said came back negative, the ABC reported.
It has also emerged the Delhi-based laboratory used for passengers’ pre-flight tests, CRL Diagnostics, had been suspended by an Indian accreditation agency last month.
The laboratory was used to COVID-19 test “vulnerable” Australians in pre-flight hotel quarantine ahead of the flight to Australia.
Qantas said today it had re-run the original tests of passengers in the same laboratory with addition supervision and all the positive tests came back positive again.
“All of the positive test results were re-run over the weekend under additional medical supervision, and the outcome was the same. This included some weak positives that may have been interpreted as negative results by other laboratories,” Qantas said in a statement.
“The passengers who tested negative and ultimately flew on the 14 May repatriation service were also given a rapid antigen test prior to boarding, and tested again by NT Health over the first 24 hours of their stay at Howard Springs.
“Both sets of tests validated the original results, with only one additional passenger testing positive at Howard Springs, suggesting this person contracted COVID prior to leaving India but had yet to develop the infection.
“Considering all of these data points, Qantas and (the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) do not believe that any passengers booked on this flight were denied boarding in error.”
Qantas said while there had been some errors in result paperwork, such as the wrong age or gender, “no one received the wrong set of results”.
CRL Diagnostics is among a list of 44 labs suspended in India.
India’s National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories told the ABC the lab was suspended for noncompliance with accreditation norms, while CRL Diagnostics reportedly said it was for misusing the board’s logo.
Qantas said it would no longer use the laboratory ahead of repatriation flights in the future.
The airline said passenger who tested positive and were not allowed to board the repatriation flight would have to wait another 14 days before being eligible to fly to Australia again.
Those passengers would be prioritised to take up a future flight, Qantas said.
The Qantas flight landed in Darwin on Saturday with just 80 people on board. Those passengers are currently quarantining at the Howard Springs facility near Darwin.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said protecting Australians required being cautious and denied some travellers were “being unfairly blocked”.
“We will work closely with Qantas … they will get every support from us but it is a very difficult environment to operate in at the moment,” Mr Morrison said.
“We were having issues earlier with the testing regime and that was one of the reasons why we actually put the (repatriation from India) pause in place to ensure we could firm that up and it has.
“I’m pleased we’ve got 80 people home. I am looking forward to more coming home.
“I’m appreciative that in NSW, in Queensland and Victoria, they will also be taking repatriated commercially facilitated flights. That is tremendous. But the testing has got to be up to standard.”
Originally published as Qantas stands by tests before India repatriation flight
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