At least 13 passengers who were diagnosed with the coronavirus upon arrival in the Indian city of Amritsar escaped quarantine, the BBC reported.

They were among 125 infected passengers on a charter flight from Milan that touched down on Wednesday afternoon.

Nine of them escaped from the airport and four others escaped from a local hospital, city official Sherjang Singh said.

The police said they would file complaints against all of them.

India reported more than 100,000 cases on Friday. Experts believe that it was omicron that caused the sharp jump in the incidence observed in the country in the last week.

A total of 160 passengers flew on the Italy-India flight. It was reported that children and infants were exempted from testing.

It is unclear how the four passengers escaped from the airport, but hospital officials told NDTV that the nine people who escaped from the hospital allegedly tricked medical professionals.

Police said they had opened a case to have their passports canceled.