Governments across the world are gearing up to tackle Omicron, dubbed “variant of concern” of COVID-19. In light of the situation, the Maharashtra government issued new guidelines for both international and domestic air passengers travelling to the state.
As per the tightened guidelines:
Domestic passengers:
–Passengers must have a negative RTPCR test taken 48 hours prior to the date of journey. This is irrespective of their vaccination status.
–Passengers travelling within the state will either have to have a negative RTPCR test taken 48 hours prior to the date of journey or be fully vaccinated.
International passengers
–An RTPCR test is mandatory for all international passengers at the Mumbai airport, irrespective of the country of origin.
–14-day home quarantine is a must for all arriving international passengers, despite having a negative RTPCR test.
–RTPCR test is mandatory for passengers planning to take connecting flights after landing in Mumbai and further travel within India is subject to a negative RTPCR result.
–For passengers travelling from “at-risk” countries, a seven-day institutional quarantine is mandatory with RTPCR tests to be done on days 2, 4 and 7. If a traveller tests positive, they would be moved to a hospital. For those who get negative reports for all tests, a further seven-day quarantine at home will still be required.
According to the updated list by the Health Ministry, the “at-risk” countries are the European countries, the UK, South Africa, Brazil, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Hong Kong and Israel.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) also indefinitely postponed the complete resumption of international flights, which was supposed to happen on December 15. The international flights, for now, will continue to only operate with 31 countries that India has an air bubble agreement with.
Related: Omicron Elicits Revised Guidelines For International Travellers To India
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