COVID VARIANTS: TRAVEL NORMS

The Centre has issued new guidelines for international arrivals with mutant variants of SARS-CoV-2 spreading across the world and also marking their presence in India. These will supersede all guidelines issued since August 2, 2020. As per these, all international travellers, except those coming through flights originating from the United Kingdom, Europe and Middle East, will be required to submit a self-declaration form on the online 'Air Suvidha' portal before the scheduled travel. They would also need to upload a negative Covid-19 RT-PCR test report. This test should have been conducted within 72 hours prior to undertaking the journey. "Each passenger shall also submit a declaration with respect to authenticity of the report and will be liable for criminal prosecution, if found otherwise," the guidelines said. According to the guidelines, they will be required to declare their travel histor y of the past 14 days and whether they plan to disembark at the arrival airport or take further flights to reach their final destination in India.