As the fear of the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 intensifies in the country, the Maharashtra government has decided to pull up its socks and tighten some of the already imposed guidelines on domestic and international travel.
The travel guidelines for domestic and international travel in Maharashtra have been revised just a day after the Centre asked the administration to “align” its rules with the new Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) issued by the Union Health Ministry.
In its newly revised guidelines, the Maharashtra government has said that all the international and domestic passengers have to strictly abide by the travel guidelines issued by the Centre in view of the Omicron variant scare.
Passengers hailing to and from high-risk countries such as South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe will be monitored closely by the state administration. Passengers from at-risk countries will have to get an RT-PCR test done at whichever airport they land in inside Maharashtra.
These passengers will also have to stay in institutional quarantine for at least seven days before they have to get the RT-PCR test done again. If they test positive then they will be hospitalized for treatment. If they test negative, then they will have to stay in home quarantine for another seven days.
Passengers from high-risk countries will have to disclose their travel history for the past 15 days to the concerned authorities upon arrival in Maharashtra. Domestic passengers will have to be fully vaccinated or have a negative RT-PCR test report upon arrival at the airport.
In the latest news, two confirmed cases of the Omicron cases have been detected in Karnataka, said the Centre. The government has also said that the two patients are currently being monitored and the proper protocol is being followed.
Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Union Health Ministry, said at a press conference, “All Omicron related cases are found to have mild symptoms so far. In all such cases in the country and across the world so far, no severe symptom has been noted. WHO has said that its emerging evidence is being studied.”
