The central government, taking precautions regarding the new corona variant Omicron, on Sunday evening issued revised guidelines for international passengers. The Union Health Ministry has issued these new guidelines, which will be applicable from December 1.
According to this, now the international passenger will have to upload his travel history and negative RT-PCR report on the Air Suvidha Portal of the Central Government before starting the journey. Earlier in the day, the Union Home Ministry had talked about presenting the existing guidelines afresh during the emergency meeting.
In the new guidelines, travelers coming to India from any international destination will be asked for a record of their travel history of the last 14 days, that is, which country they visited during this period. This exercise is being done so that it can be seen that during this time they did not go to the countries included in the ‘At Risk’ list by the Central Government. Apart from this, So they will also have to show negative RT-PCR reports.
There will be random testing of those coming from countries outside the list
According to the guidelines, passengers coming from countries outside the ‘Country at Risk’ list will be allowed to leave the airport upon landing in India. Such passengers will self-monitor their health for 14 days. One sub-section of these passengers (5% of the total passengers) will be tested for COVID after landing at the airport. So this test will be done by randomly selecting the passengers.
According to the guidelines, passengers coming from ‘at risk’ list countries will be compulsorily tested for Covid after landing at the airport. These passengers will have to wait till the test results come at the airport itself. If the test comes negative then they will be allowed to remain in home quarantine for 7 days. After this, he will have a test again on the 8th day. And also if that also comes negative then he will be allowed to self-monitor his health for the next 7 days.
Before starting the journey, a self-declaration form of 14 days of travel history has to be filled on the Air Suvidha portal.
Along with this, you will also have to upload your negative RT-PCR report within 72 hours on the portal.
Passengers at airports in India will be divided into two categories. The first category will be those coming from the ‘At Risk’ list. And the second will be for passengers from other countries.
Passengers coming from ‘at risk’ list countries will be tested for Covid at the airport itself.
If the test comes negative, they will be allowed to be quarantined at home for 7 days, So they will be tested again on the 8th day.
Samples of those with positive test reports will be sent for genome sequencing. They will be admitted to the isolation center.
A random RT-PCR test will be done after reaching the airport for 5% of the passengers coming from other countries.
If the test comes negative, they will have to keep an eye on their health for the next 14 days on their own at home.
On getting test positive, their samples will be sent for genome sequencing and they will be treated as per SOP.
The countries which have been included in the ‘At Risk’ list by the Central Government include all European countries. They include Britain, Israel, South Africa, Brazil. Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
