In the wake of rising cases of the new Covid-19 strain in India, the government has issued new guidelines and procedures for those flying from abroad keeping into focus on arrivals from United Kingdom, Brazil and South Africa.
The new SOPs issued by the government are applicable for those travelling from the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil. According to the Health Ministry, the SOPs are also to be followed by those whose transit flight has originated from the UK, Europe, and West Asia. Though West India and other European countries are not on the radar, the guidelines have to be followed by the passangers coming from those regions as there are no direct flights running between India to South Africa and Brazil.
As per the new guidelines, the passengers from the above-mentioned countries will have to produce a negative RT-PCR Coronavirus test report at the time of their arrival apart from filling the self-declaration form detailing their journey details on the Air Suvidha portal. The RT-PCR test has to be conducted hours before boarding flight for India. Besides that molecular tests of the passangers shall also be conducted in order to prevent the spread of the new variants in the country. The authories said that the expense of the tests have to be spared by the passangers themselves.
By chance if the reports of molecular test comes positive, then the passengers will be isolated and their treatment will be undertaken according to the guidelines. However if the test report is negative then the passanger will have to remain in home quarantine for seven days.
With regards to passangers who will be landing in Delhi, Chennai or Mumbai and want to take another flight for their destination city will have to follow special guidelines. Such passengers should keep a gap of about 6-8 hours between their arrival in the country and boarding time of their next flight. They have also been instructed to clearly mention their final destination on their self-declaration form apart from the details about their connecting flight.
The guidelines for passengers travelling from any other country remain unchanged.
