Muscat: People arriving from abroad in India will need to home quarantine for a week after landing and test on the eighth day, effective from January 11.
The number of “at-risk” countries has been increased to 19; nine more have been added since December.
All passengers have to go into home isolation for seven days and take an RT-PCR test after that. If they test positive, they will be sent to an isolation facility and their samples will be sent for genome testing.
Passengers seated near them and cabin crew will be treated as contacts.
If the test is negative, the passengers “will further self-monitor their health for next seven days”, the rules say.
For flights from countries that are not on the “at-risk” list, two per cent of the passengers picked randomly, will be tested on arrival.
A sub-section (2 per cent of the total flight passengers) shall undergo post-arrival testing at random at the airport on arrival.
These 2 per cent of such travellers on each flight shall be identified by the concerned airlines (preferably from different countries).
Laboratories shall prioritise the testing of samples from such travellers.
All travellers (including those 2 per cent who were selected for random testing on arrival and were found negative) will undergo home quarantine for 7 days and shall undertake an RT-PCR test on the 8th day of arrival in India.
Travellers shall also be required to upload the results of the repeat RT-PCR test for Covid-19 done on the eighth day on the Air Suvidha portal (to be monitored by the respective States/UTs).
If negative, they will further self-monitor their health for the next seven days.
However, if such travellers are tested positive, their samples should be further sent for genomic testing.
They shall be managed at an isolation facility and treated as per laid down standard protocol including contact tracing.
If travellers under home quarantine or self-health monitoring, develop signs and symptoms suggestive of Covid-19 or test positive, they will immediately self-isolate and report to their nearest health facility or call the National helpline number (1075)/State Helpline Number.
International travellers arriving at seaports/land ports
International travellers arriving through seaports/land ports will also have to undergo the same protocol as above, except that a facility for online registration is not available for such passengers currently.
Such travellers shall submit the self-declaration form to the concerned authorities of the Government of India at seaports/land ports on arrival.
Children under 5 years of age are exempted from both pre-and post-arrival testing. However, if found symptomatic for Covid-19 on arrival or during the home quarantine period, they shall undergo testing and be treated as per laid down protocol.
Contacts of the suspected case are the co-passengers seated in the same row, three rows in front and three rows behind along with identified Cabin Crew.
The Kerala state has also made seven-day home quarantine mandatory for all those who arrive from foreign countries …
