As a part of India's endeavour to reinforce Covid protocols to contain further spreading of coronavirus infections, Air India Express on Tuesday issued fresh set of guidelines on Covid-appropriate behavious in flights for passengers arriving from UAE.
All about the guidelines
As per the guidelines, all arrivals from UAE should preferably be completely immunised as per the approved primary schedule of Covid vaccination.
Other precautions include the use of masks and physical distancing.
"All guests should preferably use masks and follow physical distancing on flights/travel and at all points of entry," Air India Express said in a tweet.
The guidelines also mentioned that post-arrival random testing is not required for children under the age of 12 and they are only required to undergo testing in accordance with protocol if they have Covid-related symptoms upon arrival or during the time of self-monitoring.
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Centre's reviewd Covid hguidelines for international passengers
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said RT-PCR test for the detection of Covid-19 would be made mandatory for international passengers arriving from China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Thailand.
Any passenger from /these countries found symptomatic or testing positive for coronavirus would be quarantined, Mandaviya said.
Following random testing, if anybody is found Covid-positive, the sample should be sent for genomic testing at the designated INSACOG laboratory network, Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan wrote in a letter to his civil aviation ministry counterpart Rajiv Bansal.
After submitting samples for random testing, travellers will be allowed to leave the airport.
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A copy of the positive report shall be shared with Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme at shoc.idsp@ncdc.gov.in by the concerned testing laboratory (besides sharing with the APHOS) to be in turn shared with concerned state or Union Territory for further follow-up action, Bhushan said.
He also said filling up of the 'Air Suvidha' form to declare the health status will be made mandatory for passengers coming from these countries.
The Union health ministry has already asked the civil aviation ministry to ensure random post-arrival Covid testing at airports of 2 per cent of the passengers arriving in India in each international flight from Saturday to minimise the risk of ingress of any new variant of the coronavirus in the country.
The Air Suvidha forms that show current health status are also compulsory for international passengers arriving from these countries. Air Suvidha is a self-declaration form which was introduced as a Covid prevention measure and was meant to understand contact tracing during the pandemic. It is currently required from all travellers who wish to enter India.
(With PTI Inputs)
