COVID-19 Omicron variant: Guidelines for supervising international travelers arriving in Mumbai issued

Moneycontrol News

December 04, 2021 / 11:32 IST

(Image: AFP)

Municipal Commissioner of Greater Mumbai area on 3 December issued the guidelines to the concerned officials to monitor and supervise international travelers arriving in Mumbai from “at risk” countries. While 7 days of home quarantine has been recommended for international travelers, officials have been directed to rigorously follow the newly issued guidelines to contain the spread of COVID-19.

As per the new guidelines, the CEO of the Mumbai International Airport will have to send a single line list of international passengers, arriving in Mumbai in preceding 24 hours from ‘high risk countries’, and those who have visited these countries in the last 15 days. Besides, only those passengers who have mentioned Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) area in their addresses shall be included in the list.

Based on the addresses, a dedicated software designed by the Disaster Management Unit will segregate this list in 24 wards of MCGM for tracking all passengers under home quarantine.

The disaster management unit shall ensure distribution of the segregated list of these passengers to all 24 Ward War Rooms (WWR) and medical offers of health (MOS).

EPID Cell shall de overall monitoring of surveillance, including contact tracing and other activities and report to the concerned authorities.
WWR shall receive the list of such passengers and call to inform them that they need to remain under 7-day home quarantine. They shall help the passengers with proper information on COVID-19 protocols and counsel them on their concerns, as per the latest guidelines.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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