Passengers flying into India from "at-risk" countries will be tested for Covid-19 on arrival and will not be allowed to leave the airport till their RT-PCR test results are available, as the new rules to check the spread of the deadly Omicron variant come into force today.
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.
However, if they test positive for the virus, passengers will be isolated and treated, and their samples will immediately be sent to the INSACOG Labs network 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 for 14 days.
The Centre has advised states to keep a strict vigil on the international passengers coming to the country through various airports, ports, and land border crossings.
States have also been advised to ramp up testing as the 'Omicron' variant shows up in both RT-PCR and Rapid Antigen Tests that have been used to detect Covid so far.
Strengthening testing infrastructure, strict implementation of testing guidelines, and maintaining a healthy ratio of RT-PCR tests, which has been found to be more effective in detection, have been advised.
