E-Paper
Centre issues FAQs for international passengers amid Omicron variant scare
Post-arrival testing can be exempted if a person is travelling from a not 'at-risk' country and has only a transit (without leaving immigration) in 'at-risk' country before taking the destination flight.
As concerns over the new variant of coronavirus Omicron grew, the ministry of civil aviation (MoCA) on Wednesday issued a set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to clear the air regarding the rules and requirements concerning the international passengers arriving from 'at-risk' countries and other nations. The FAQs were issued for better understanding of the passengers and to enable them for a safe, secure and hassle-free international air travel, the ministry said, according to news agency PTI.
Check out FAQs issued by the ministry of civil aviation here:
- The passengers coming from countries that are not on the 'at-risk' list will be subject to random sampling for coronavirus and such passengers will be permitted to leave the airport after giving the samples. The testing would be on a self-paid basis. "Airlines/Airports may coordinate with the officials of State/UT governments to select the passenger at random sampling," the ministry said in a release.
- The ministry also provided a clarification to a question about travellers from countries, excluding those 'at-risk', transiting through the airports of countries 'at-risk' but staying within the airports.
Post-arrival testing can be exempted if a person is travelling from a not 'at-risk' country and has only a transit (without leaving immigration) in 'at-risk' country before taking the destination flight.
“However, if the person has travelled to any at-risk country in the last 14 days, he/she will be asked for post-arrival testing and other additional restrictions...,” the release said.
- On a question whether travellers who have submitted their sample for post-arrival Covid-19 test at the point of arrival, also self-paid, have to wait for their test results before leaving or taking a connecting flight, the ministry said, "after the negative results are received, the passengers can take connecting flights to reach their final destination".
Once the negative report is received, the passenger may not wait for the report of all the co-passengers and can exit the airport or take a connecting flight.
Notably, the 'at-risk' list issued by the Centre includes "countries in Europe including The United Kingdom", South Africa, Brazil, Botswana, China and Mauritius. Other countries in the list are New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Hong Kong and Israel.
(With inputs from agencies)
