India Issues Fresh Guidelines for International Travellers

Hyderabad: With effect from February 14, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has released new rules for international arrivals. The new set of guidelines, which will supersede those released after January 20, were issued since the worldwide and Indian growth trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to vary regionally, and economic operations must be carried out without delay, according to the MoFHW.

According to the most recent Standard Operating Procedure, all travellers must provide complete and accurate information in a self-declaration form on the online Air Transport Security Administration website.

Before the planned flight, go to the Suvidha site (link here) and enter your trip data from the last 14 days.

Aside from that, they must provide a negative COVID-19 RT-PCR report (conducted within 72 hours of embarking on travel) or proof of completion of the COVID-19 main immunisation schedule.

Each passenger must also sign a statement attesting to the report's validity, or face criminal charges if the report is proved to be false. They should also give an undertaking to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India, through the concerned airlines, before they are allowed to embark on the journey, that they will abide by any post-arrival requirement to undergo home/institutional quarantine/self-health monitoring, as warranted, by the appropriate government authority.

Only passengers who have filled out the whole Self Declaration Form on the Air Suvidha portal and submitted a negative RT-PCR test report or a Covid -19 vaccination certificate indicating that they have completed the primary immunisation schedule are allowed to board.

Only asymptomatic passengers will be permitted to board the aeroplane after undergoing thermal scanning. If a passenger exhibits COVID-19 symptoms throughout the flight, he or she will be quarantined according to policy.

Passengers who are discovered to be symptomatic during screening should be segregated and brought to a medical institution as soon as possible, according to health procedures. If they are found to be positive, their contacts must be identified and treated according to policy.

A small percentage of the passengers on the aircraft (2% of the total) will be subjected to random post-arrival testing at the airport. The airlines in charge of each trip will identify such passengers (preferably from different countries). They will be permitted to exit the airport after submitting the samples.

If such travellers test positive, their samples should be transferred to the INSACOG laboratory network for genetic testing. For the next 14 days following their arrival, all travellers will self-monitor their health.

International travellers arriving at seaports or land ports will be subjected to the identical procedures as those described above, with the exception that online registration is not yet possible for such passengers. On arrival, such travellers must submit the self-declaration form to the competent government of India officials at seaports or land ports.

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Pre-arrival and post-arrival tests are not required for children under the age of five. If they are discovered to be symptomatic of COVID-19 upon arrival or during the self-monitoring period, they will be tested and treated according to the procedure.