Soon, passengers who have received both their Covid vaccine shots will not have to produce an RT-PCR report upon entering the city. The BMC is working towards setting up new standard operating procedures (SOP)s for domestic passengers.
In April, the state government had declared Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Kerala, Goa, Gujarat, Delhi, NCR, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand as places of sensitive origin. As per the SOPs, passengers travelling to Mumbai via long distance trains from these states need to submit a negative RT-PCR report before checking out from the railway station. Meanwhile, those travelling to Mumbai by air need to submit a negative RT-PCR before checking out. The rules also state that the report must be issued within 48 hours before the passengers enter the state.
Senior officials said that now due to a drop in cases and more people getting vaccinated, the BMC is working towards relaxing the rules for those who have taken both their doses.
“We are working towards relaxing norms for passengers who are fully vaccinated. The SOPs have already been drafted. However, we are awaiting a nod from senior officials," an official told FPJ.
Meanwhile, for international passengers entering the city, the Centre has made institutional quarantine compulsory for them. The official said that the BMC may relax rules if the union ministry allows them.
“The rules were set up at a time when cases were high and vaccination also didn't start in full scale back then, now many people are vaccinated which is why we are thinking about relaxing the curbs a bit," said the official.
The official maintained that for passengers inoculated with Covishield or Covaxin, having certificates of both the doses are compulsory, while for passengers inoculated with Sputnik V, only single doses will do.
“The Centre has ordered compulsory institutional quarantine for them, if they relax the rules, then we don't have any problem to follow the same in that case," the official said.
