Abide by revised guidelines for international passengers : DPH to AAI

Dr TS Selvavinayagam, director of the Public Health and Preventive Medicine stated in a letter that passengers found to be symptomatic during screening should be isolated immediately and taken to a medical facility in coordination with the deputy director of health services (DDHS). If tested positive, their contacts will be identified and monitored according to the laid-down protocol.

Travellers from countries, including South Africa, China, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Brazil, Bangladesh, Botswana, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, Singapore and Israel, and Europe have to submit their samples for a paid COVID test after landing in the State. They should wait for results before leaving the airport or taking a connecting flight.

Even if tested negative, passengers have to be quarantined at home for seven days and re-test on the eighth day and monitor their health for another seven days. But if they are tested positive, the samples would be sent for genomic testing to the INSACOG laboratory network. They will be managed at a separate isolation facility and treated as per laid down standard protocol, including contact tracing. Their contacts would be kept under institutional quarantine or at home quarantine and monitored strictly by the government.

International travellers from places excluding ‘at-risk’ countries will be allowed to leave the airport and self-monitor their health for 14 days. Randomly chosen 5 per cent of the total passengers will be tested on arrival.

Laboratories will prioritise testing of samples from such travellers and if such tested positive, they shall be managed as per laid down standard protocol and samples would be sent for genomic testing.