India revises guidelines for international arrivals amid Omicron scare

[Kool_SRG]

• International passengers will have to submit a self-declaration form on the online Air Suvidha portal and include travel history for the past two weeks

As more countries announce travel restrictions over the detection of new variant of Covid-19 Omicron, the Union Health Ministry on Sunday revised its guidelines for international arrivals in India.

The Centre has mandated submitting 14 days travel details and upload negative Covid (RT-PCR) test results on Air Suvidha portal before the journey. The new rules will come into effect from 1 December till further orders. The revised guidelines will supersede earlier ones issued on and after 11 November.

The travellers from 'countries at-risk' will need to take Covid-19 test post-arrival and wait for results at airport, the Health Ministry has said.

If the test is negative, they'll follow home quarantine for 7 days, re-test on the 8th day and if negative again, further self-monitor for the next 7 days, the ministry's statement read.

The government also said that travellers from countries excluding those 'countries at risk' will be allowed to leave the airport and shall self-monitor health for 14 days. 

“A sub-section (5% of total flight passengers) shall undergo post-arrival testing at random at the airport on arrival," the statement said.

A declaration with respect to the authenticity of the Covid-19 test report will also be required, manipulated reports will make the passenger liable for criminal prosecution.

The existing guidelines have been revised in view of the Covid variant Omicron (B.1.1.529), which has been now classified as a Variant of Concern by the World Health Organization, the Health Ministry said.

As per the revised guidelines, before boarding passengers originating from or transiting through at-risk countries shall be informed by the airlines that they will undergo post-arrival testing, quarantine if tested negative, stringent isolation protocols if tested positive, etc.

Do's and Don'ts shall be provided along with ticket to the travellers by the airlines/agencies concerned and airlines will allow boarding of only those passengers who have filled in the self-declaration form on the Air Suvidha portal and uploaded the negative RT-PCR test report.

This test should have been conducted within 72 hours prior to undertaking the journey.

At the time of boarding the flight, only asymptomatic travellers will be allowed to board after thermal screening and all passengers shall be advised to download Aarogya Setu app on their mobile devices.

"Travellers from specified countries at risk will follow the protocol as detailed below: Submission of sample for post-arrival COVID-19 test at the point of arrival (self-paid). Such travellers will be required to wait for their test results at the arrival airport before leaving or taking a connecting flight.

"If tested negative they will follow home quarantine for 7 days. Re-test on the 8th day of arrival in India and if negative, further self-monitor of their health for next seven days," the guidelines stated.

However, if such travellers test positive, their samples should be sent for genomic testing at the INSACOG laboratory network.

They shall be managed at separate isolation facility and treated as per laid down standard protocol, including contact tracing, and the contacts of such positive case should be kept under institutional quarantine or at home quarantine monitored strictly by the state government concerned.

The nations (at risk updated as on November 26, 2021) from where travellers would need to follow additional measures on arrival in India include European countries, the UK, South Africa, Brazil, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Hong Kong and Israel.

Children under five years of age remain exempted from both pre- and post-arrival testing. However, if found symptomatic for Covid-19 on arrival or during home quarantine period, they shall undergo testing and treated as per laid down protocol.

As per the guidelines, contacts of the suspect case are the co-passengers seated in the same row, three rows in front and three rows behind along with identified cabin crew.

Also, all the community contacts of those travellers who have tested positive during home quarantine period would be subjected to quarantine for 14 days and tested as per ICMR protocol.

International passengers arriving through seaports/land ports will also have to undergo the same protocol, except that facility for online registration is not available for such travellers currently.

 

 

[Kool_SRG]

Government of India continues to keep track of the evolving situation; Home Secretary chairs high level review meeting

Focus on enhancing Genomic Surveillance of incoming passengers from ‘at risk’ countries

States/UTs advised to keep strict Vigil at Airports and Ports

APHOs and PHOs instructed for strict supervision of testing protocol at airports/ ports

 

 

The Union Government has been leading the fight against the global pandemic with a ‘Whole of Government’ and ‘Whole of Society’ approach. As an ongoing effort to strengthen stakeholders for COVID management, the Government has been continuously advising the State/UT governments and various nodal agencies on focused public health responses which are revised based on emerging evidence. A similar risk-based approach is being emphasized with the emergence of the new Omicron variant of COVID-19 (B.1.1529) which has been classified as "Variant of Concern" by WHO.

The Prime Minister chaired a high-level meeting to review the emerging situation and India's preparedness in terms of public health measures, yesterday.

The Union Health Secretary has advised  States/UTs regarding testing, surveillance, monitoring of hotspots, augmentation of health infrastructure, genome sequencing, and enhancing public awareness, vide his letters dated 25th and 27th of November 2021, the first of which was immediately after WHO flagged the Omicron variant as a Variant of Concern (VoC).

The criticality of scrupulous implementation and rigorous monitoring of the three-pronged surveillance strategy of screening and testing international travellers & their contacts, routine sentinel surveillance and surge surveillance, and timely sending of RT- PCR positive samples to designated INSACOG Genome Sequencing Laboratories (IGSLs) were stressed upon along with enhanced testing and monitoring of COVID-19 hotspots.

The imperative that all international travellers travelling from and transiting through these countries which are part of the “at risk” Country Category of international travellers coming to India and also including all other ‘at risk’ countries indicated in the revised Guidelines for International Arrivals issued by this Ministry dated 11th November 2021, are subjected to rigorous screening and testing, as per MoHFW Guidelines was suggested. The contacts of these international travellers are also to be closely tracked and tested as per MoHFW guidelines.

In this regard, a meeting was chaired by Home Secretary today where the overall global situation in wake of Omicron virus was comprehensively reviewed. The meeting saw the attendance of various domain experts including Dr. V K Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog, Dr. Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser to Prime Minister and senior officers from Health, Civil Aviation and other Ministries.

Various preventive measures in place and those to be further strengthened were discussed. The review and updation of Standard Operating Procedure on testing & surveillance of incoming international passengers, especially for those countries identified ‘at risk’ category was also discussed. The strengthening and intensification of genomic surveillance for variants through the INSACOG network was agreed upon with a focus on sampling and whole genome sequencing of international passengers especially from those countries where Omicron variant has been detected.

Airport Health Officials (APHOs) and Port Health Officials (PHOs) are to be sensitized for strict supervision of testing protocol at airports/ ports.

Decision on effective date of resumption of scheduled commercial international passengers service, to be reviewed, as per evolving global scenario. Closer watch on emerging pandemic situation within the country will be maintained.

For all authentic & updated information on COVID-19 related technical issues, guidelines & advisories please regularly visit: https://www.mohfw.gov.in/ and @MoHFW_INDIA.

Technical queries related to COVID-19 may be sent to [email protected] and other queries on [email protected] and @CovidIndiaSeva .

In case of any queries on COVID-19, please call at the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare helpline no.: +91-11-23978046 or 1075 (Toll-free). List of helpline numbers of States/UTs on COVID-19 is also available at https://www.mohfw.gov.in/pdf/coronvavirushelplinenumber.pdf.

 

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