‘At Risk’ list of countries scrapped in the new health ministry guidelines
Ministry of Health, Government of India on Thursday scrapped the mandatory seven-day home quarantine for international travellers coming to India. The new guidelines, which come into effect from February 14, require passengers to self-monitor their health for 14 days after arrival and isolate in case they develop symptoms of Covid-19.
All passengers will undergo thermal screening on arrival and be isolated at a medical facility if found symptomatic. If they test positive, their contacts will be identified as per protocol. Moreover, there will be random testing of 2% of international travellers from all countries on arrival.
Travellers can give samples and are allowed to leave the airport. The need for undertaking RT-PCR test on the eighth day and uploading the same on Air Suvidha portal has also been dispensed with.
In the new guidelines, the ‘at-risk’ tag for countries has also been removed. Moreover, passengers from 82 countries are now allowed to upload a certificate of full vaccination instead of a negative RT-PCR report obtained 72 hours prior to boarding.
These countries include those which have an agreement with India on mutual recognition of vaccination certificates of nationally recognised or WHO recognised vaccines or those which provide quarantine-free entry to Indians.
All travellers to India will have to submit complete and factual information in self-declaration form on the online Air Suvidha portal before the scheduled travel, including last 14 days travel details.
According to guidelines, each passenger shall also submit a declaration with respect to authenticity of the RT-PCR report or the vaccination certificate and will be liable for criminal prosecution, if found otherwise.
They should also give an undertaking on the portal or otherwise to Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India, through concerned airlines before they are allowed to undertake the journey that they would abide by the decision of the appropriate government authority any post arrival requirement to undergo home/institutional quarantine/ self-health monitoring, as warranted.
Besides, all airlines flying to India will allow boarding by only those passengers who have filled in all the information in the Self Declaration Form on the Air Suvidha portal and uploaded the negative RT-PCR test report or Covid -19 vaccination certificate of having completed the primary vaccination schedule. Only asymptomatic travellers will be allowed to board after thermal screening.