Travel to Mumbai or Pune on Mind? Here's Complete Govt Guideline for Flyers as Covid-19 Cases Surge in Maha

Mumbai: As commercial flight operations began in Mumbai on Monday morning, the Maharashtra government issued guidelines for the travellers, mandating compulsory home isolation for a period of 14 days.

The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA), which in pre-coronavirus days handled 950 flights daily, saw departure and arrival of 47 flights on Monday almost after two months. The first flight left for Patna at 6.45 am, while a flight from Lucknow was the first arrival at 8.20 am. Both the flights were operated by IndiGo.

Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had on Thursday announced that domestic flights would resume from May 25. After initially refusing to resume operations, the Maharashtra state government permitted 25 flights to operate from Mumbai. However, chaos and confusion prevailed on day 1 as passengers arriving into the city had no idea about the guidelines.

Later, in a tweet posted on the Chief Minister's official handle, the government, mentioning the rules for flyers, stated that people undergoing home isolation should monitor their own health. However, the local district/municipal administration have been authorised to give exemptions in home isolation to people contributing to an office or for other important works only after checking the passenger.

According to the three-page guidelines (Standard Operating Procedure for handling of Domestic Air Travellers arriving in Maharashtra), passengers who are coming to the state for a short duration (less than one week) and have planned for onward/return journey will have to share the details of the same and will be exempted for isolation.

"However, such passengers will not be allowed into the containment zones of the hotspot areas," the directive states.

Masks are mandatory throughout the journey, both for passengers and the crew. All passengers shall be advised to download the Aarogya Setu App. Passengers are to submit a self-declaration form on arrival. Social distancing norms are to be followed while de-boarding and also while awaiting screening. Any person found symptomatic during the screening will be taken straight to a nearby quarantine facility.