The Government of Maharashtra, in an order dated November 30, has made it mandatory for intra-state travellers to either be fully vaccinated or hold valid RT-PCR tests and for inter-state travellers to produce RT-PCR tests (48 hours), without exception.
The development comes after a new COVID-19 variant Omicron was detected in South Africa and declared a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organization (WHO), the order said.
The order states that the move is being implemented under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 “with immediate effect”.
Here are all the restrictions being imposed on air travel into Maharashtra:
FOR DOMESTIC TRAVELLERS
– In the case of domestic air travel, passengers travelling within Maharashtra will either have to be fully vaccinated or compulsorily carry a RT-PCR test within 48 hours of the time of arrival.
– In case of passengers from other Indian states, negative RT-PCR test within 48 hours of arrival will be compulsory without exceptions.
Also Read | Seven-day quarantine must for passengers from 'at-risk' countries arriving in Mumbai
FOR INTERNATIONAL TRAVELLERS
– All restrictions imposed by the Centre on November 28 and future restrictions if any shall act as “minimum restrictions to be imposed”.
– All passengers arriving from international flights will have to declare details of the countries visited in the last 15 days. For this, the DCP immigration and FRRO are to draft a proforma of declaration.
Mumbai International Airport (MIAL) will share this proforma with all airlines and the information provided will be cross-checked by immigration on arrival. Incorrect info will be subject to relevant sections under the DMA, 2005.
– International passengers arriving from “at-risk” countries may be de-planed on priority, and MIAL and the Airport Authority (AAI) will screen them at separate counters.
These passengers will have to undergo mandatory 7 days' institutional quarantine, and will undergo RT-PCR tests on the second, fourth and the seventh day.
If found positive, the passengers will be shifted to a hospital, and if all tests are negative, they will have to undergo a further 7 days of home quarantine.
– Other international passengers arriving from non-“at-risk” countries will have to undergo compulsory RT-PCR test at the airport.
If found negative, they will have to undergo 14 days of home quarantine, and if positive, they will be shifted to a hospital.
– For international passengers with connecting flights to any other airport in India (without leaving the airport at all), an RT-PCR test at the first arrival airport in Maharashtra will be mandatory. They will be allowed to board the connecting flight only if the test result is negative.
Information about such passengers shall be passed on by the airline of the connecting flight to the destination airport before take-off so that the destination airport can make arrangements for segregating such passengers on arrival.
In case such a passenger is taking a connecting flight to an airport in Maharashtra, they will be subjected to quarantine rules mentioned in the order for landing directly from an international source.
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