Union Health Ministry made some amendments to the travel guidelines for international arrivals in India on Sunday, to be effective from December 1 amid the emergence of a new Covid-19 variant termed Omicron. According to the new guideline, the international traveler traveling to India has to submit 14 -days travel detail and upload a negative RT-PCR test report on the Air Suvidha portal before the journey. This is applicable to all points of entry- including airports, seaports, and land borders.
If the tests are negative, the passengers are to follow a seven-day quarantine and a re-test will be taken on the 8th day, which if negative, further self-monitoring will happen for the next seven days.
Furthermore, the government has listed 12 countries as ‘at-risk from which travelers have extra measures to follow on arrival in India including post-arrival testing. The countries include Europe including The United Kingdom, South Africa, Brazil, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Israel.
“The existing guidelines have been revised in view of reporting of a new variant of SARS-CoV-2 (B.1.1.529; named Omicron) which has been now classified as Variant of Concern by the World Health Organization,” the Health Ministry said.