Six passengers have tested positive for Covid-19 on arrival at Indian airports on the first day that the new stringent guidelines came into effect on Wednesday for flyers coming in from the at-risk countries where the deadlier Omicron variant of coronavirus has been detected.
According to information provided by the Ministry of Health, a total of 11 international flights landed at various airports of the country except Lucknow, from midnight to 4 pm on Wednesday from "at risk" countries. As many as 3,476 passengers arrived on these flights.
“All 3476 passengers were administered RT PCR Tests, wherein only 6 passengers were found COVID19 positive,” the official statement said.
The samples of the COVID19 positive passengers have been sent to INSACOG labs set up by the government to monitor genomic variations in the SARS-CoV-2.
These labs determine the strain of the virus that has caused the infection in a particular case.
States will then undertake contact tracing of these positive individuals and follow up the Covid protocol for 14 days.
Travellers arriving from "at-risk" countries are being advised to prepare to wait at the airports till their results are out. The list of countries deemed "at-risk" for now includes the United Kingdom, all 44 countries in Europe, South Africa, Brazil, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Israel.
If found negative, the passengers will undergo a seven-day home quarantine and be re-tested on the 8th day. State officials will physically visit their homes to ensure effective home isolation.
