Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan in a letter to Maharashtra Public health additional chief secretary Pradeep Vyas objected to Maharashtra government's guidelines which mandate compulsory RT-PCR testing and 14 day home quarantine for international travellers among others, and asked him to align with central guidelines.
Bhushan's letter has identified four points from Maharashtra government’s guidelines, which were issued on November 30, which are:
Mandatory RT-PCR testing of all international travellers at the Mumbai airport, irrespective of country of origin.
Mandatory 14-day home quarantine for all international passengers, despite being tested RT-PCR negative upon arrival
Mandatory RT-PCR test for passengers planning to undertake connecting flights after disembarking at Mumbai and further travel subject to a negative RT-PCR result
Requirement of negative RT-PCR test 48 hours prior to date of journey, for domestic passengers travelling from other states to Maharashtra
Bhushan urged that the modified orders be given wide publicity to obviate any inconvenience to travellers.
The Maharashtra government had announced the guidelines on Tuesday in light of concerns regarding the new COVID-19 variant Omicron.
