Several Fijians on a repatriation flight from India last week were taken off the passenger list after failing to meet their government's Covid-19 requirements.
Fiji's Foreign Ministry said the government had imposed strict testing protocols for all returning passengers.
Garuda Indonesia planes at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. Photo: AP
The Permanent Secretary for Foreign Afffairs, Yogesh Karan, said the restrictions come after the last flight from India on 4 July brought a cluster of virus cases and this had resulted in Fiji's first covid-related death on 1 August.
Karan said about 69 Fijians were allowed to board the flight in Delhi while another eight Fiji citizens were uplifted from Jakarta in Indonesia. He said all 77 Fijians arrived home last Thursday.
The Garuda Indonesia Airlines flight had 229 passengers, of which 151 were New Zealand citizens who caught a connecting flight out of Nadi on Thursday afternoon.
Karan said screening prior to boarding and undergoing quarantine measures after arriving in Fiji have been strengthened.
"I know several passengers were off-loaded in Delhi because they did not meet the protocols we had put in place.
"I had instructed the high commission in Delhi to implement these protocols strictly given what happened the last time."
He said the majority of passengers were Fijians who had travelled to India for medical treatment.
Mr Karan said the Fijian Government partially paid for the charter flight while the passengers purchased tickets.
"We still have Fiji nationals in India."
Meanwhile, Karan said that seventeen Fijians, who had travelled to India to attend an Islamic religious gathering, were being held by police for violating the country's lockdown restrictions in March.
He said the Fiji mission was monitoring the situation.