Passengers flying to Goa must adhere to new quarantine guidelines in the wake of quarantine, said Airports Authority of India on Wednesday. As per the new directives, all arriving passengers shall be required to go for 14 days of home quarantine or they can opt for 14 days of paid institutional quarantine. Institutional quarantine is mandatory for symptomatic passengers till test result is available.
However, passengers shall be exempted from home quarantine in below cases:
- Passenger is able to produce a COVID-19 negative certificate issued by an ICMR-recognized lab, not older than 48 hours prior to the arrival in Goa.
- Passenger opts for swab test upon arrivals at a cost of ₹2000 and agrees to remain in paid institutional/home quarantine till the time test result is available.
Here are the guidelines for tourists opting for home quarantine
- Pre-booking of accommodation (hotels registered with Department of tourism) is mandatory. Proof of pre-booking for entire duration of stay will be checked at the entry points.
- All tourists will have to undergo basic screening at the entry point. Any tourist exhibiting sickness or COVID-19 related symptoms upon arrival will be subjected to a COVID-19 test at designated testing centres/hospitals at the tourist’s cost.
- The Authorities will check (a) if the booking was made with any registered accommodation unit with department of tourism and is permitted to operate and (b) validity of booking for entire duration of stay.
Subsequently the tourist will be subjected to the following safety protocols:
- In case the tourist is carrying a COVID-19 Negative Certificate, they will be allowed to move to booked accommodations.
- In case a tourist is not carrying a valid COVID-19 Negative Certificate, then he/she will be directed to undergo testing for COVID-19 at designated testing centres/hospitals.
- Thereafter, they will have to go into self-isolation till the results are received. The isolation facilities will be provided by the accommodation units themselves, where the tourist made a pre-booking. Once results are received, only and if found COVID-19 Negative, the tourist shall be allowed to travel outside the isolation facility. In case any tourist is found COVID 19 positive, the accommodation unit will act as per the extant protocol issued by the state health department. All costs for COVID-19 test including the stay at the isolation /quarantine facilities shall be borne by the tourists themselves.
- If the tourist intends to change their original booking during their period of stay in Goa, such changes will be allowed only with permitted accommodation units by department of tourism. The tourist needs to show the proof of re-booking, if any, to the Rapid Response leader of the accommodation unit before they can shift from original accommodation.
Tourist shall be required to fill out a self-declaration form in the format provided at the accommodation unit for the purpose of contact tracing (if necessary). Passengers are also expected to certify the status of their health through the Aarogya Setu mobile app or a self-declaration form.
Along with rest of country, Goa is also facing increased number of COVID-19 cases. The number of infected persons in state increased by 259 on Tuesday to reach 7,075, while four deaths took the toll to 60, an official said. A total of 238 people were discharged during the day, taking the number of such cases to 5,114, leaving the state with 1,901 active cases, he said.
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