Maharashtra Government Issues New Guidelines For Air Travel In View Of COVID-19 Variant Omicron

Mumbai: Maharashtra government on Tuesday issued stringent guidelines for air travel in view of the new COVID-19 variant, Omicron. The Omnicron variant of the COVID-19 virus has been detected the South Africa and some other countries and has been declared as a variant of concern by the World Health Organisation. The Government of India has declared some countries as countries “at-risk”.

In wake of the same, in order to restrict the transmission of the said virus variant into the State, in exercise of the powers conferred under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, the undersigned in the capacity of the Chairperson of the State Executive Committee of the State Disaster Management Authority declared with immediate effect, the restrictions on air travel into the state. The order copy read,

The restrictions imposed by the Government of India guidelines dated November 28, 2021 as well as future restrictions if any, shall act as minimum restrictions to be imposed.

DCP immigration and FRRO to draft a proforma of declaration for all arriving passengers on international flights to declare details of the countries visited in the last 15 days. MIAL to share the proformas with all airlines and the information regarding travel in the last 15 days shall be cross-checked by immigration on arrival. Incorrect information furnished by the passengers shall lead to action under relevant sections of the Disaster Management Act, 2005.

Also Read: Genome Sequencing Can Confirm Presence Of COVID-19 Variant Omicron: Expert

The international passengers arriving from at-risk countries (declared by the Government of India from time to time) may be deplaned on priority and separate counters will be arranged by MIAL and Airport Authority for their checking. Such all passengers shall have to undergo mandatory 7-day institutional quarantine and RT-PCR test to be carried out on days 2, 4 and 7 for these passengers.

The order copy read, “If any of the test is found to be positive, then the passenger shall be shifted to a hospital. In case of all tests coming negative, the passenger will have to undergo a further 7 days of home quarantine.”

Passengers from any other countries except the at-risk countries will have to compulsorily undergo RT-PCR test at the airport on arrival and on being found negative, will have to undergo 14 days of home quarantine.

If found positive, they will be shifted to the hospital. In case of an international passenger having a connecting flight to any other airport in India (without leaving the airport at all), passenger shall undergo an RT-PCR test at the first arrival airport in Maharashtra and only on being found negative will he be allowed to board the connecting flight.

Information about such passengers shall be passed on by the airline of the connecting flight to the destination airport before take-off so that the destination airport can make arrangements for segregating these passengers on arrival. In case such a passenger is taking a connecting flight to an airport in Maharashtra, the passenger shall be subjected to quarantine rules mentioned herein for landing directly from an international source. In the case of domestic air travel, passengers travelling within the State will either have to be fully vaccinated or compulsorily carry an RTPCR test within 48 hours of the time of arrival. In case of passengers from other States, negative RTPCR test within 48 hours of arrival will be compulsory without exceptions.

Also Read: Omicron Variant Does Not Escape RT-PCR And RAT, Centre Tells States As It Asks Them To Ramp Up Testing

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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.