New Delhi: Nearly 15,000 Indians, selected on the basis of the urgency of their need to return home, will be brought back to India from 12 countries, in the first week from Thursday when India will begin repatriation flights.On Tuesday, the Ministry of Home Affairs released the schedule of flights for the first seven days of the operation named Vande Bharat Mission. The 64 flights, which will be operated by Air India and Air India Express, will deliver Indian nationals to 10 states in India.As per the schedule, there will be around eight to nine daily flights, which will be bringing 200 to 250 people back on each trip.“These are not evacuation flights, but repatriation, as the Indian government is not sponsoring, but only facilitating the return,” said sources.On the first day, there will be flights from UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Kingdom, Singapore, Malaysia, United States, Philippines and Bangladesh. These 10 flights will be landing in cities in Kerala, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.The home ministry also released a three-page standard operating protocol which will be adopted for Indians who are travelling back on these commercial non-scheduled flights.Also read: Is India Neglecting Its Migrant Workers Abroad?Besides the flights, naval ships will also be deployed – first in Maldives to bring Indians stranded in the Indian Ocean nation. “There has been big spike in numbers and Indians have been advised to leave,” said sources. The first naval ship will leave the Maldivian capital with 200 persons on May 8.The crew manning the flights and the naval ships will be tested for COVID-19 before they leave on the journey. During the entire operation, they will be donning full PPE suits, added sources.In total, more than 3 lakh have registered in the Gulf alone for these repatriation flights. However, in the first phase, around 1.9 lakh Indian nationals worldwide, including a lakh from the Gulf states, will be chosen for these repatriation journeys.The home ministry’s SOP has spelled out the “compelling grounds” for selecting candidates for the flights – those facing deportation, laid off, expiration of visa, medical emergencies, pregnant women, elderly family emergency and students whose institutions have closed. The ticket prices range from Rs 1 lakh for a flight from US to Rs 13,000, the price for the Dubai-Kochi trip.Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said in a virtual press conference that private Indian airlines may join the repatriation effort after May 13.According to sources, more than 10,000 Indians worldwide have already tested positive for coronavirus, with 84 dead, so far.While making a database of travellers, the SOPs stated that the Indian mission has to include information on whether these Indians have taken a RT-PCR test. However, sources made it clear that the RT-PCR test is not mandatory.Kerala chief minister P. Vijayan has written a letter that that it would be “dangerous” to bring back Indians without proper testing. UAE has been doing rapid-antibody tests at the airport for all departing passengers, but this test is largely believed to be inaccurate.As per the hoe ministry’s SOP, travellers will only have to undergo thermal screening and if they are symptomatic, then they will be allowed to step foot.Also read: Is the Rapid Antibody-Based Test Really a Game-Changer?After arrival, all of them will have to install the Aarogya Setu application on their phones. After a medical examination, they will be subsequently put under quarantine for 14 days, either in a hospital or in an institutional facility, also on payment basis. A Cochin International Airport Limited official said a three-phase de-infestation project was underway at the airport while mock drills for testing different systems have already been completed.(With PTI inputs)