‘All entering Punjab to be screened, test a must for those with symptoms’

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab health department on Tuesday issued a detailed advisory on medical protocol and procedures for all international as well as domestic travellers coming to the state by air, rail and road.

In a statement, health and family welfare minister Balbir Singh Sidhu said all international travellers will be required to hand over self-declaration forms containing personal and health details to officials for screening at the point of entry.

“Inbound international passengers found to be symptomatic during screening will be taken to a health facility and their RT-PCR samples will be taken for Covid testing as per the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines,” he said.

He said those who test positive and are asymptomatic, provided they are aged less than 60 or do not have any comorbidity, will be kept in Covid care centres whereas passengers who test positive and need medical supervision (either due to the severity of symptoms or any associated co-morbidity or are aged above 60) will be shifted to a level-ii or level-iii facility.

Asymptomatic passengers found negative will be put under institutional quarantine on payment basis and tested on the fifth day and if tested negative they will be allowed to go home after completion of 7-day institutional quarantine and advised home isolation for the same period, the minister added.

Domestic travellers entering Punjab by air, train, road will also be screened at the entry points, Sidhu said. “They will have to report to nearest health facility in case of any symptoms,” he said.