Omicron: Maharashtra amends rules for passengers from 6 ultra risk nations

New Delhi, Dec 02: Maharashtra has amended the travel rules that were imposed after the Omicron variant of COVID-19 had been detected in several countries.

The government has said that the institutional quarantine will apply only for fliers from 6 ultra risk countries. The six ultra risk countries are South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lasotho, Zimbabwe and Eswatini. Passengers from these nations shall be debarred on priority and sent to 7 day mandatory quarantine, the new rules say.

After completion of quarantine, the passengers will take an TRPCR test and if the result is negative, will undergo 7 days of home quarantine. Those passengers from at risk countries no longer need institutional quarantine upon arrival.

The new rule would also apply to people who visited these countries anytime within 15 days ahead of their arrival and any passenger who are symptomatic.

On Wednesday, the BMC said that the rules for international passengers will begin from midnight of December 2. For domestic travellers from other states, the validity of the RT-PCR was extended to 72 hours and in exceptional cases testing would be allowed at the Mumbai airport.

The state had also made it mandatory for international passengers arriving from at-risk countries to undergo a seven-day institutional quarantine. Further, it was said that the passengers will be tested on the second, fourth and seventh day.

It further said that there would be mandatory RT-PCR testing for all other international passengers and said that they would have to undergo a 14 day home quarantine even if found negative.

In a letter to Maharashtra Health Secretary Pradeep Vyas, Union Health Secretary, Rajesh Bhushan said that these measures diverge from the SOPs and guidelines that have been promulgated by the Centre.

"I would, therefore, urge you to align the orders issued by the state with the guidelines issued by the ministry of health and family welfare, the government of India, so that uniform implementation of the guidelines may be ensured across all states/UTs," Bhushan said.