Covid test to start at Delhi airport

The Delhi airport operator has proposed not to put international flyers arriving at the airport under mandatory institutional quarantine if they test negative after taking a Covid test at the airport only. This proposal is yet to be approved by the Health and Civil Aviation ministeries. Some passengers such as pregnant women, those travelling with a child below 10 years of age, those who have suffered a death in the family or have a critical illness, may be granted conditional exemption from mandatory institutional quarantine.

 “It will help them go home straight away if the reports of tests conducted at the airport show negative results. However, the results will take at least eight hours, and therefore a special waiting area will be set up for these passengers at Terminal 3,” said an airport official. At present, passengers arriving from overseas are only screened for symptoms at the airport and undergo a compulsory seven days of institutional quarantine followed by seven days of home quarantine.