Hotel quarantine for foreign returnees only for 7 days, can't charge more: Centre to states

New Delhi, May 27: The Centre on Tuesday directed states to ensure that hotels, which had charged people returning from abroad for a 14-day quarantine upfront, return the deposits of seven days.

The home ministry in a letter to states said that since the revised Union health ministry guidelines on quarantine of international travellers allow such people to leave institutional quarantine after seven days, the hotels must return advance money charged from the travellers.

"It has been brought to the notice of the ministry that Indian nationals who were quarantined in hotels after their return from abroad were made to pay advance for 14 days. Since they can now leave for home quarantine after seven days, the amount paid by them for the remaining seven days needs to refunded to them, which some hotels are refusing to refund," the MHA letter to all state chief secretaries said.