Latest News on international flights from Mumbai, Six foreign travellers from “at-risk” nations tested positive for Covid-19 in Maharashtra on Tuesday, prompting the state government to tighten international travel laws by requiring all visitors from these countries to undergo a seven-day institutional quarantine.
Regardless of their vaccination status, domestic air travellers entering Maharashtra will be required to carry a negative RT-PCR test report – sample tested within 48 hours of arrival.
The Variant Of Concern
With reports from around the world about Omicron, a new Covid-19 “variant of concern,” the Union government issued revised guidelines for international travellers arriving from Europe – including the UK and 11 other “at-risk” countries – on Sunday, requiring testing upon arrival, home quarantine for seven days after a negative test result, and a retest on the eighth day.
Six overseas travellers from “risk countries” tested positive in Maharashtra, the authorities reported on Tuesday. Their samples were sent for genome sequencing to see if they carried the Omicron infection. The government has also encouraged all districts to conduct an S-Gene Target Failure (SGTF) test, a molecular diagnostic that can be used to identify a suspected Omicron case quickly.
The state also developed its own set of guidelines for international travellers, which were stricter than the Centre’s.
Tourists at Risk
International travellers from at-risk nations will be subjected to mandatory institutional quarantine and RT-PCR tests on Days 2, 4, and 7 under the new restrictions. If a test result is a positive result, the subject will be taken to the hospital. Even if all test results are negative, passengers must still quarantine themselves at home for another seven days. Apart from all of Europe, including the United Kingdom, the Health Ministry has identified 11 other countries as “at-risk”: South Africa, Brazil, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Israel.
Passengers from non-risk countries will be subjected to an RT-PCR test upon arrival, and if the results are negative, they will be placed in home quarantine for 14 days.