The central government on Sunday issued a set of revised guidelines for international passengers arriving in India. The new order, which will come into effect from 8 August, mandates that passengers can skip institutional quarantine if they submit Covid-19 negative test reports.
The order said that passengers can seek exemption from institutional quarantine on arrival by submitting a negative RT-PCR and the test should have been conducted within 96 hours prior to undertaking the journey.
“The test report should be uploaded on the portal www.newdelhiairport.in for consideration,” the guidelines stated.
Passengers are also required to submit a declaration with respect to authenticity of the report and will be liable for criminal prosecution if found otherwise.
As of now, all international passengers have to undergo mandatory 14 day quarantine — seven days institutional quarantine at their own cost, followed by seven days isolation at home.
The order further said that only for “compelling reasons/cases of human distress such as pregnancy, death in family, serious illness and parent(s) with children of the age of 10 years or below, home quarantine may be permitted for 14 days.”
On arrival, the order said that passengers who are found to be symptomatic during screening will be immediately isolated and taken to a medical facility as per protocol.
Post thermal screening, the guidelines said the passengers who have been exempted from institutional quarantine will show the same to the respective state counters before being allowed home quarantine for 14 days.
Remaining passengers will be taken to an institutional quarantine facility. They will be tested according to ICMR protocol.
“If they are assessed as asymptomatic/pre-symptomatic/very mild cases, they will be allowed home isolation or isolated in the Covid Care Centre (both public and private facilities) as appropriate,” it said.
Those having mild/moderate/severe symptoms will be admitted to dedicated Covid health facilities and managed accordingly, it said.
If passengers test negative, they shall be advised to further isolate themselves at home and self-monitor their health for seven days.
(With PTI inputs)