MHA issues new guidelines for foreigners to fly out of India and Indians to fly in
New Delhi, Apr 03: The Ministry of Home Affairs has issued new Standard Operating Procedures to allow foreigners to leave the country in a chartered flight arranged by their respective nations.
The SOP was issued after several countries approached the Centre for evacuation of their citizens who are quarantined in different parts of the country. Further the ministry also issued guidelines for the release of Indian citizens quarantined after foreign travel. The MHA said they would be given transit passes to reach their homes. However they will have to bear their own expenses, the MHA further said.
The MHA addendum read, "it has been brought to the notice of this Ministry that a number of foreign nationals are stranded in different parts of the country due to lockdown measures. Some foreign countries have approached the Government of India for evacuation of their nationals to their countries. In view of the above, it has now been decided that requests received from foreign governments, for evacuation of their nationals from India, would be examined by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on a case-to-case basis."
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The addendum also added that prior to departure, the foreign nationals will be screened for infection symptoms. Only those foreign nationals would be allowed to leave, who are asymptomatic for COVID-19. In case of symptomatic persons, the future course of treatment would be followed as per the standard health protocol.
For foreign returned quarantined Indians who have tested negative for coronavirus, the MHA said that they would be released as per the standard health protocol. However this will not apply to a group where even one person tests positive for COVID-19.