Exempt fully vaccinated fliers from carrying negative RT-PCR report, Mumbai civic body urges state

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Tuesday sought permission from the Maharashtra government to exempt domestic passengers, who are fully vaccinated from carrying a negative RT-PCR report, upon arriving in Mumbai

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Tuesday sought permission from the Maharashtra government to exempt domestic passengers, who are fully vaccinated from carrying a negative RT-PCR report, upon arriving in Mumbai. Presently, all domestic passengers arriving in Mumbai need to carry a negative report of an RT-PCR test conducted 48 hours before commencing the journey.

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The civic body has also decided that vaccination for students and citizens travelling abroad, and for those travelling for Tokyo Olympics will now take place six days a week at seven dedicated vaccine centres, instead of three days a week. These centres will be dedicated for these beneficiaries on three additional days- Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, until August 31, BMC said in a statement on Friday. These seven vaccination centres are Kasturba Hospital, KEM Hospital in Parel, SevenHills Hospital in Andheri, Cooper Hospital in Vile Parle, Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar, Dahisar jumbo facility, and Shatabdi Hospital in Govandi.

In a circular issued on May 12 this year, the Maharashtra government had imposed restrictions on domestic flyers arriving in Mumbai. While these restrictions were earlier imposed only on passengers arriving from Gujarat, Goa, Delhi, Rajasthan and Kerala, they were applied to all passengers arriving in Mumbai from any part of the country.

In a circular issued on Tuesday, BMC said, “The vaccination drives across the nation have been commenced and many citizens who are fully vaccinated, are requesting to waive off the condition with respect to carrying negative RT-PCR test report.” “Domestic passengers who are fully vaccinated may be exempted from carrying negative RT-PCR test report while arriving in the city of Mumbai,” read the circular.

Meanwhile, the present rules for all international passengers arriving in Mumbai continue, as per the earlier circular issued by BMC on March 20. Fully vaccinated international passengers are exempted from institutional quarantine if they present their vaccination certificate but have to undergo home quarantine for 14 days.