Omicron: India to tighten travel guidelines from December 1 

As concerns about the spread of Omicron, a new variant of the coronavirus,  are rising, the government has decided to tighten international travel guidelines from December 1. According to a report in the Economic Times, international passengers arriving in India will have to mandatorily submit their 14-day travel history and a negative RT-PCR report on Air Suvidha portal before the scheduled travel.

India will test all passengers coming from at-risk countries, said the report, adding that 5% of all international flyers will be tested randomly on arrival.

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had reviewed the decision to relax restrictions on international travel in the wake of the emergence of the variant of the virus.

At-risk countries 

Further, the report quoted a home ministry spokesperson as saying that the decision on the resumption of scheduled commercial international passenger service will be reviewed  as per the emerging global situation.

The UK and South Africa, Botswana, Israel, Hong Kong, Brazil, Bangladesh, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Singapore and Zimbabwe, have been included in the 12 at-risk countries. The report said travellers from at-risk countries will be subjected to testing and extra surveillance.

According to the new guidelines, international travellers need to upload a negative Covid-19 RT-PCR test report not older than 72 hours of their scheduled journey. Passengers with manipulated reports will be liable for criminal prosecution

Stricter guidelines

Passengers are required to take the Covid test on arrival. They need to produce the test results before leaving the airport or taking connecting flights. Those with negative test reports will be home quarantined for seven days. On the eighth day, they will undergo another test and if the report is negative passengers will have to monitor their health for the next seven days.

Those found symptomatic will be immediately isolated and treated at a health facility.

Those tested positive will be moved to a separate isolation facility and treated as per the standard protocol. The contacts of such positive cases will be kept under institutional quarantine or under home quarantine – monitored by the concerned state government.