New COVID variants enter India |
India has issued a fresh set of travel guidelines as two new, highly infectious strains of Covid -- the South African and the Brazilian strains -- have been detected in India. The new rules apply to all incoming international passengers except those from the UK, Europe and the Middle East. On 16th February, Indian Health Ministry said four people were detected with the South Africa variant of SARS-CoV-2 and one tested positive for the Brazil variant, a first for India. The number of people who have tested positive for the UK variant in the country has climbed to 187. In a tweet, Indian Health Ministry said: "Attention Passengers! All incoming international travellers, except travellers coming on flights originating from UK, Europe and the Middle East, should make sure that they follow the guidelines issued by @MoHFW_India". The guidelines issued include submission of a self-declaration form for Covid-19 by the passengers on the online Air Suvidha portal before the scheduled travel. The passengers will need to select whether they plan to disembark at the arrival airport or take further flights to reach their final destination in India. All international travellers coming/transiting from flights originating from the United Kingdom, Europe and the Middle East will be required to declare their travel history of the past 14 days. Passengers from the UK, Europe and the Middle East, will be mandatorily subjected to self-paid confirmatory molecular tests on arrival at the Indian airports. Travellers from Brazil, South Africa and the United Kingdom, testing positive, either at the airport or subsequently during home quarantine period or their contacts who turn positive, will be isolated in an institutional isolation facility in an isolation unit coordinated by the respective state health authorities.
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