BMC orders mandatory 7-day institutional quarantine for travellers from Brazil

According to the BMC circular, passengers arriving via flights originating in Brazil were required to undergo a compulsory seven-day institutional (hotel) quarantine even if their pre-boarding Covid certificates were negative.

The BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) announced on Wednesday that passengers arriving at the Mumbai international airport from Brazil would have to undergo a compulsory seven-day institutional (hotel) quarantine even if their pre-boarding Covid certificates were negative. This will apply only on passengers belonging to Maharashtra.

The rule will also apply to those Maharashtrians who are transiting via flights originating in Brazil, according to the BMC circular. (Representative Image) (PTI File Photo)

The rule will also apply to those Maharashtrians who are transiting via flights originating in Brazil, according to the BMC circular.

The designated hotels have been asked to follow SOPs of quarantine guidelines. The travellers would not be allowed to venture outside the hotel premises and necessary precautions would be taken within as well.

Passengers from other states who might be taking connecting flights after arrival in Mumbai will be allowed to board their planes only if their RT-PCR test report comes negative at the airport testing. The information regarding such passengers will be sent to the respective states.

The seven-day quarantine measure is currently being followed for passengers coming from the UK, South Africa and Middle East.

If a passenger tests positive or is symptomatic on arrival or after the test on the last day of quarantine, they would be shifted to the isolation facility at the Seven Hills Hospital if they were travelling from the UK.

Those travelling from the Middle East, South Africa or Brazil would be shifted to the GT Hospital or designated private hospitals (Bombay, Raheja, Hinduja and Reliance hospitals) as per their choice.

If the travellers test negative on day seven, they would be discharged from institutional quarantine and be sent for another seven days of mandatory home quarantine with the stamp and undertaking that they would abide by home quarantine rules and be followed up by the Medical Officers of Health (MOsH) team regularly during that period. The contacts of those who test positive during home quarantine would be followed up and isolated as per previous guidelines.

The institutional quarantine measures, however, are to be exempted for embassy officials.

The BMC order also read that as per the previous circulars (dated December 21, 2020 and December 27, 2020) all passengers that arrived from the Middle East, UK, and South Africa were being kept under surveillance and tested on day seven and as per the Guidelines for International Arrivals dated February 17, 2021, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had included Brazil in the list of countries under quarantine rules over fears of the coronavirus variant.