Omicron: Maharashtra may roll back some curbs for travellers

Mumbai, Dec 02: Maharashtra is likely to roll back some of the curbs introduced amidst concerns over cases of Omicron. The government is likely to do away with the rule that mandated an RT-PCR negative report from domestic travellers who are fully vaccinated.

On Wednesday, the BMC said that the rules for international passengers will begin from the 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, government of India, so that uniform implementation of the guidelines may be ensured across all states/UTs," Bhushan said.