Scindia issues action plan for airports amid Omicron threat
DELHI: Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday held a high-level meeting to put in place a targeted action plan for a thorough but smooth screening of international arrivals as cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus are inching up in the country.
The meeting was attended by civil aviation secretary Rajiv Bansal and chairman of Airports Authority of India (AAI) Sanjeev Kumar, officials said. “Took stock of the preparedness, testing capacities, and the situation on the ground with regard to crowd management at both private and @Aai_official airports. Have put an action plan with 8 compliances on immigration queues, expanding RT-PCR service providers,” Scindia tweeted.
“...Ramping up help desks & forex counters, along with seamless floor management. Rest assured, @MOCA_GOI is monitoring the situation on a daily basis & passengers shall not face any inconvenience at airports,” he added. Instructions were given to keep an eye on social media platforms for better passenger care, officials said. “The aim is to reach out for help in case someone highlights an issue,” said a ministry official, who asked not to be named.
To ensure smooth passage of international travellers arriving in India, the aviation and health ministries on Tuesday mandated contactless self-declaration on the Air Suvidha portal. “...the exemption forms from the Air Suvidha portal have been discontinued, and filling of the details have been made compulsory for all international passengers arriving in India,” said a statement from the aviation ministry.
“All international passengers arriving in India are mandated to declare their current health status prior to boarding on the Air Suvidha portal, along with the required documents: copy of passport, PCR negative certificate of a test conducted within 72 hours of departure, and the vaccination certificate. For immigration, the copy received in e-mail is essential on arrival in India and has to be verified at the APHO (airport health office) counter.”
As of Tuesday night, 23 Omicron cases were reported in India. The Centre issued an updated list of “at-risk” countries, adding Ghana and Tanzania to the list of 14 regions from where travellers have to go through mandatory testing on arrival, and home quarantine for seven days. The list includes all of Europe including the UK, South Africa, Brazil, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Hong Kong and Israel. Bangladesh, which was a part of the original list, was removed from it.
In order to avoid crowding, the Delhi International Airport Limited has set up 20 dedicated counters to deal with passengers from at-risk countries who have prebooked their test, and increased seating and waiting space.
Chetan Kohli, chief operating officer at Genestrings Diagnostics, the lab carrying out testing of fliers at the Delhi airport, said: “We’re hiring additional staff to have 60 registration desks, as against 40 right now, to speed up the process and cater to additional countries, if any are added to the at-risk category.”