As states around India rush to impose travel curbs to contain the spread of deadly Omicron covid variants, the Maharashtra government has made the RT-PCR test compulsory for all passengers arriving at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai.
As per the new govt mandate, the RT-PCR or reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction test will also be compulsory for domestic passengers flying in from other states of the country. However, those fully domestic passengers who are fully vaccinated will be exempted from carrying an RT-PCR test certificate, the state’s Health Minister Rajesh Tope said.
Domestic passengers would have to carry negative RT-PCR test reports for samples tested 48 hours prior to the date of journey, the guidelines noted.
Passengers arriving from ‘at-risk countries will be required to undergo a mandatory seven-day institutional quarantine. Such passengers will also undergo the RT-PCR test on the second, fourth and seventh day of arrival. These passengers will be required to undergo the mandatory quarantine even if their tests come negative. In case of testing positive for Covid-19, these passengers will be shifted to the hospital.
On the other hand, air passengers from other than “at-risk” countries will have to undergo a compulsory RT-PCR test at the Mumbai airport. Even if found negative, they will have to undergo 14-day home quarantine. If positive, the patient will be shifted to a hospital, the guidelines said.
Also Read: Centre vs Maha? Union Health Secy Tells State Its Omicron Travel Rules in ‘Divergence’ With GoI Norms
The Centre on Wednesday however told Maharashtra government that the restrictions imposed by it on international passengers in the wake of the Omicron threat are in “divergence” with the SoPs issued by the Health Ministry on November 28. Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan urged the Maharashtra government to align its travel norms with that of the Centre’s “so that uniform implementation of the guidelines may be ensured across all states/UTs”.
The nations that are currently on the ‘at-risk list of India are European countries, including the UK, South Africa, Brazil, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Israel.
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