The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday said the passengers arriving from Brazil must undergo a compulsory seven-day institutional quarantine even if they possess pre-boarding COVID negative certificates.
"Passengers arriving/transiting through flights originating from Brazil require compulsory 7 days of institutional (hotel) quarantine on arrival irrespective of negative report pre-boarding. This will apply to all the passengers belonging to Maharashtra State arriving in Mumbai," BMC said in a circular.
"Passengers from other States than Maharashtra taking connecting flights after their arrival will be allowed to take flights if their RT-PCR test report is negative at the airport," it added.
As per the circular, if the passengers are found COVID-19 positive/symptomatic on arrival or on day 7, they will be shifted to G.T.Hospital or designated private hospitals (Bombay, Raheja, Hinduja, Reliance). However, if the travellers are found negative on day 7, they will be discharged and sent for mandatory home quarantine for another seven days.
This comes after scientists said that the Brazil coronavirus variant, which has now been found in the UK, appears more contagious and may evade immunity provided by past infection.
According to a study, the coronavirus variant detected in the northern Brazilian state of Amazonas is twice as contagious and capable of re-infecting those who already had Covid-19.
Reportedly, the virus variant was initially detected in November 2020 in Manaus, capital of Amazonas state. In just seven weeks, the variant became more prevalent in the region, according to researchers at the Brazil-UK Center for Arbovirus Discovery, Diagnosis, Genomics and Epidemiology.
