Children Under Five Exempted From COVID-19 Testing While Travelling To India: Health Ministry

New Delhi: Children under five years of age are exempted from both pre-and-post-arrival testing upon arrival in India, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. However, if they are found to be symptomatic for COVID-19 on arrival or during the home quarantine period, they shall undergo testing and treatment as per protocols. “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 home quarantine period, they shall undergo testing and treated as per laid down protocol,” the Health Ministry guidelines on November 11.

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The Health Ministry said that the guidelines for international arrivals in India have been reviewed in view of increasing vaccination coverage across the globe and the changing nature of the pandemic.

The global trajectory of COVID-19 pandemic continues to decline with certain regional variations. The need to monitor the continuously changing nature of virus and evolution of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) must still remain in focus, the guideline said.

This standard operating procedure (SOP) shall be valid from November 12 (00.00 hours IST) till further orders, the Ministry stated. The revised guidelines also state that 15 days must have elapsed since the completion of the COVID-19 vaccination schedule. On arrival, de-boarding should be done, ensuring physical distancing and thermal screening of all passengers is carried out by the health officials present at the airport. Contacts of suspected cases are co-passengers seated in the same row, plus three rows in front and three rows behind, along with identified cabin crew. Also, all the community contacts of travellers who have tested positive would be subjected to quarantine for 14 days and tested as per the Indian Council of Medical Research’s protocol, the guidelines stated.

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NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity,  that is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.