New COVID-19 Variant: Centre mandates 7-day quarantine for travellers coming from 'at-risk' countries

If tested negative, the travellers from 'at-risk' countries will have to follow home quarantine for seven days, the health ministry's guidelines stated. (Representative image)

Amid concerns over the Omicron variant of coronavirus, the central government has mandated seven-day home quarantine for travellers arriving in the country from 'at-risk countries.

According to the latest guidelines for international arrivals in India, all the travellers from specified countries ‘at risk’ will have to undergo the COVID-19 test. If tested negative, they will have to follow home quarantine for seven days, the guidelines stated.

On the eighth day of arrival in India, they will again give samples for coronavirus testing. If they again test negative for the infection, they will need to further self-monitor their health for the next seven days, as per the guidelines.

However, if such travellers tested positive, their samples should be sent for genomic testing at the INSACOG laboratory network. They will be managed at a separate isolation facility and treated as per laid down standard protocol including contact tracing. The contacts of such positive cases should be kept under institutional quarantine or at home quarantine monitored strictly by the concerned state government as per laid down protocol, it said.

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If travellers under home quarantine or self-health monitoring, develop signs and symptoms suggestive of COVID-19 or test positive for COVID-19 on re-testing, they will immediately self-isolate and report to their nearest health facility or call the national helpline number or state helpline number, it stated.

The list of 'at-risk countries is announced by the Union government. According to an updated list, the countries designated as 'at-risk are the European countries, the UK, South Africa, Brazil, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Hong Kong and Israel.

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Maharashtra government has also mandated seven-day institutional quarantine for travellers arriving in the state from 'at-risk countries. As per the latest guidelines issued by the State Disaster Management Authority on Tuesday night issued the guidelines, such passengers will also undergo RT-PCR test on the second, fourth and seventh day of the arrival.

If a passenger is found to be positive, he or she will be shifted to a hospital. In case the test is negative, the passenger will still have to undergo seven-day home quarantine.

Passengers from other than 'at-risk countries will have to undergo compulsory RT-PCR test at the airport. Even if found negative, they will have to undergo 14-day home quarantine. If found positive, the patient will be shifted to a hospital, the guidelines added.

The new COVID-19 variant B.1.1.529, first detected in South Africa this week, was designated as a Variant of Concern by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on November 26, which named it Omicron.