Six people test COVID-19 positive from 'at risk' countries on first day of international travel guidelines

Representative Image (Image: AP)

On the first day of India implementing its international travel guidelines amid the new Variant of Concern (VOC) Omicron, six people have tested COVID positive from "at-risk" nations at airports.

A total of 11 international flights landed at various airports of the country except Lucknow, from midnight to 4 pm on December 1 , from "at risk" countries that carried 3,476 passengers. All these passengers were administered RT PCR Tests and among them, six tested positive, according to the government's press release.

Their samples have now been sent to INSACOG labs for Whole Genomic Sequencing.

Also Read: Negative RT-PCR report must for domestic passengers arriving at Mumbai airport

According to the Union Health Ministry data updated on December 1, India added 8,954 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,45,96,776, while the active cases were recorded at less than a lakh after 547 days.

The death toll climbed to 4,69,247 with 267 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.

In its efforts to prepare against the threats of the Omicron variant, the government earlier today postponed the resumption of scheduled commercial international flight services.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said the government would take a call on a new date to resume scheduled international flights in "due course".

The decision to postpone the resumption of scheduled international air services comes five days after the Ministry of Civil Aviation had announced that such flights would resume from December 15, after a gap of about 20 months.

The Indian government subsequently announced that passengers arriving from "at-risk" countries would be required to undergo seven-day quarantine. Their samples would be collected for RT-PCR tests at the airports, and they would also be tested on the eighth day after their arrival.

The list of "at-risk" countries includes European nations, the UK, South Africa, Brazil, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Hong Kong and Israel.

The World Health Organization (WHO), on November 26, had classified Omicron as a "variant of concern". Since then, several countries have either partially shut their borders or delayed their plans to resume regular international flights.

A high-level meeting was also chaired by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, earlier today, wherein states were advised to send all positive samples to INSACOG labs for Whole Genomic Sequencing.

States and UTs were also told not to let their guard down and keep a strict vigil on the international passengers coming to the country through various airports, ports, and land border crossings and stressed on strict monitoring of hotspots.