No 7-day home quarantine for international travellers

The Central government on February 10, 2022, issued revised guidelines for international arrivals, doing away with the mandatory seven-day home quarantine for those arriving from overseas and the need for them to undertake an RT-PCR test on the eighth day. The demarcation of countries ‘at-risk’ and other countries has been removed.

A sub-section (2 per cent of the total passengers on the flight) shall undergo random post-arrival testing at the airport on arrival. They will submit their samples and be allowed to leave the airport.

Instead of the seven-day home quarantine as mandated earlier, all travellers will self-monitor their health for 14 days after their arrival.

Besides uploading a negative RT-PCR report (taken 72 hours prior to the journey), there would also be an option to upload certificates of the completion of the full primary COVID-19 vaccination schedule provided by countries on a reciprocal basis. The ministry has provided a list of 82 such countries.

Passengers found to be symptomatic during screening after arrival shall be immediately isolated and taken to a medical facility in accordance with health protocol. If tested positive, their contacts shall be identified and managed as per laid down protocol.

If such travellers test positive, their samples should be further sent for genomic testing at the INSACOG laboratory network and they will be treated/isolated in accordance with standard protocol, the guidelines state.