New Covid variants: Guidelines for international passengers coming from UK, Brazil, South Africa, Middle East changed; check details

With the threat of new variants of Coronavirus still looming large, the Indian authorities have altered the guidelines for the international arrivals in the country. The new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) issued by the authorities is applicable to all those passengers who are coming to India from the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Brazil. In addition to these passengers, the SOP is also to be followed by those international passengers whose transit flight has originated from the UK, Europe, and West Asia, The Indian Express reported. Despite West Asia and other European countries not being on the radar, guidelines are to be abided by passengers coming from these regions because no direct flights are running between India to Brazil and South Africa and most passengers coming from these countries take transition flights flowing from Europe or West Asia.

What are the new guidelines?

Apart from filling the self-declaration form detailing their journey details on the Air Suvidha portal, the passengers from the above-mentioned countries will also have to produce a negative RT-PCR Coronavirus test report at the time of their arrival. The RT-PCR must have been conducted hours before they boarded the flight to India. RT-PCR test aside, the Indian authorities will also conduct confirmatory molecular tests on the passengers to prevent the chances of spread of the new variants in the country. The authorities have also clearly mentioned that the charges for the molecular tests will also be borne by the arriving passengers.

If the outcome of the molecular test comes positive, the passengers will be isolated and their treatment will be undertaken according to the guidelines. However, if the test report comes negative, then the passengers will be allowed to come out of the airport with an advisory to remain in home quarantine for a period of seven days.

Other major changes

Special guidelines have also been issued for the passengers who land at one of the major airports in the country like Delhi, Mumbai or Chennai and want to take another flight to their home state or city. According to the guidelines, such passengers should keep a gap of about 6-8 hours between their arrival in the country and boarding time of their next flight. Such passengers have also been instructed to clearly mention their final destination on their self-declaration form apart from the details about their connecting flight.

Government authorities have asked the airlines and immigration officers at the airport to identify passengers who are either coming from the UK or have taken a flight originating from West Asia or Europe. The guidelines for passengers travelling from any other country remain unchanged.