The emergence of the Omicron strain of the new coronavirus has made the government cautious about resuming international flights. It issued new guidelines on Sunday, listing more than a dozen countries “at risk” and removing exemptions for vaccinated people.

These rules are designed to curb the spread of Omicron variants.

After more than 20 months of long-term interruption, the government announced on November 26 that it would resume regular international commercial flights from December 15. The flight is currently undergoing bilateral bubble arrangements with various countries. These are the countries where the Omicron response cases were established. The variant was first discovered in Southern Africa and has since spread to many countries.

According to the new guidelines issued by the government, the United Kingdom, the whole of Europe, and 11 countries—South Africa, Brazil, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Israel—are all “at risk”. According to the revised guidelines issued by India, passengers from or transiting “high-risk” countries must undergo RT-PCR testing upon arrival in India and need to wait for the results before leaving the airport or taking a connecting flight. Ministry of Health.

Travelers who test positive will be taken to a medical facility for isolation, and if they are indeed infected with the Omicron variant, they will need to stay there until the test is negative. If they are infected by any other variant, their release will be determined by the doctor based on their condition.

For those who come from the listed countries and test negative, they will need to go to home quarantine and be tested again on the eighth day. The guidelines say that if they are active, they will need to report to the Covid-19 Helpline.

These passengers must also declare their travel history for the past 14 days.

News Source : Hindustan Times