In the wake of the emergence of the new Covid “variant of concern”, “Omicron”, India will review its decision on the effective date of resumption of scheduled commercial international passenger services. On Sunday, the government also revised travel guidelines for passengers coming to India from abroad. The government also asked the states to prioritise their containment, surveillance, testing, monitoring, vaccination strategies, apart from augmenting health infrastructure.
The government revised travel guidelines for international passengers, particularly those arriving from 12 “countries at risk”. These passengers will have to undergo Covid testing post-arrival and wait at the airport for the test results. In the case of a negative test report, the travellers will have to home-quarantine for seven days and will be tested again on the eighth day. If the second test report is also negative, the travellers will have to monitor themselves for another seven days. International travellers will also have to submit 14 days’ travel details and upload a negative RT-PCR test report on Air Suvidha portal before the journey. Travellers from countries excluding those “countries at risk” will be allowed to leave the airport and shall self-monitor themselves for 14 days. A sub-section (5% of total passenegrs on a flight) will have to undergo post-arrival testing at random at the airport The revised guidelines come into effect from 1 December.
On Sunday an urgent meeting was chaired by Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla, following the high-level review by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, it was decided that the government will further review Standard Operating Procedure on testing and surveillance of incoming international passengers, especially for those countries identified “at risk” category.
Other experts including Dr V.K. Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog, Dr Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser to Prime Minister and senior officers from Health, Civil Aviation and other Ministries comprehensively reviewed the overall global situation in wake of the Omicron virus.
“Various preventive measures in place and to be further strengthened were discussed. Further, the decision on the effective date of resumption of scheduled commercial international passengers service will be reviewed, as per evolving global scenario,” said a Home Ministry statement.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, genomic surveillance for Covid variants is to be further strengthened and intensified. “Airport Health Officials (APHOs) and Port Health Officials (PHOs) will be sensitized for strict supervision of testing protocol at airports and ports.”
On Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had chaired a comprehensive meeting that lasted for almost two hours to review the public health preparedness and vaccination-related situation for Covid-19.
As per an official statement issued by Prime Minister Office, officials briefed the Prime Minister about the new Variant of Concern ‘Omicron’ along with its characteristics and the impact seen in various countries. Its implications for India were also discussed. Prime Minister Modi spoke about the need to be proactive in light of the new variant.
WHAT THE STATES SAID
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and urged him to stop flights from countries affected by the new Covid-19 variant Omicron. In an official letter, Kejriwal wrote, “Our country has fought a tough fight against Corona for the last one and half years. We should do everything possible to prevent the new variant of concern from entering India.” “We should do everything possible to prevent the new variant of concern, recently recognised by WHO, from entering India. A number of countries, including the European Union (EU), have suspended travel to the affected regions. I urge you to stop flights from these regions with immediate effect. Any delay in this regard may prove harmful if any affected person enters India,” he stated.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said that the state government is taking all the precautions and is prepared to deal with Omicron variant of Covid-19. Khattar said, “We are taking all precautions and are prepared to deal with it. The District Commissioners have been asked to remain vigilant especially before granting permission for fairs.”
Uttarakhand Health Secretary Dr Pankaj Kumar Pandey has instructed all the District Magistrates of the state to monitor the people coming from outside along with intensive testing as a precautionary measure against the Covid-19 variant Omicron. The Health Secretary has also given instructions to form monitoring teams at the district level for proper prevention.