Centre adds 7 more to the list of countries with additional travel restrictions

In February, 2021 the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had issued guidelines for travellers arriving from the United Kingdom, Europe and Middle East in light of the increasing evidence of variants of SARS-CoV-2 in these countries. This list has been modified to include 7 more countries being-

1. South Africa

2. Bangladesh

3. Botswana

4. China

5. Mauritius

6. New Zealand

7. Zimbabwe

Some of the additional restrictions on travellers arriving from these countries have been detailed below-

1. Travellers should submit a Self-Declaration Form (SDF) for COVID on the online Air Suvidha portal (www.newdelhiairport.in) before the scheduled travel and will be required to declare their travel history (of past 14 days).

2. All the passengers arriving from United Kingdom, Europe and Middle East shall be carrying negative RT-PCR Test report for which test should have been conducted within 72 hours prior to undertaking the journey. The same also shall be uploaded on the online portal (www.newdelhiairport.in).

3. All the travellers arriving from/transiting through flights originating in United Kingdom, Europe or Middle East shall be mandatorily subjected to self-paid confirmatory molecular tests on arrival at the Indian airports concerned (port of entry).

4. If tested negative, they will remain in home quarantine for 7 days and regularly followed up by the concerned State/District IDSP. These travellers shall again be tested after 7 days and if negative, released from quarantine, and continue to monitor their health for a further 7 days.

5. Travellers who test positive shall be isolated in an institutional isolation facility in a separate (isolation) unit coordinated by the respective State Health Authorities. The sample shall be sent to Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) Labs.

   • If the report of the sequencing is consistent with the current SARS-CoV-2 virus genome circulating in the country; the ongoing treatment protocol including home isolation/treatment at facility level as per case severity may be followed.

   • If the genomic sequencing indicates the presence of new variant of SARS-CoV-2 then the patient will continue to remain in a separate isolation unit.