14-day quarantine mandatory: Here are the central guidelines for international arrivals

Hyderabad: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has released a set of revised guidelines for passengers coming from foreign countries amid the Covid-19 lockdown. While the civil aviation minister maintained that quarantine is not necessary for domestic air travellers, the central health ministry said that a 14-day quarantine is compulsory for all international arrivals in the country.

The 14-day quarantine consists of a 7-day institutional quarantine, which needs to be paid for by the passengers themselves. The next week, the passengers may adopt home isolation with

self-monitoring of health.

However, the central health ministry also stated that states can also develop their own protocol with regards to quarantine and isolation as per their assessment. Home quarantine for 14 days will be allowed for only exceptional cases, according to the guidelines.

These include cases of human distress, pregnancy, death in family, serious illness and parent(s) accompanied by children below 10 years, as assessed by the receiving states.

Other guidelines include:

1. Passengers are advised to download Aarogya Setu app.

2. Only asymptomatic travellers will be allowed to board after thermal screening.

3. Self-declaration form in duplicate shall be filled by the person in the flight/ship and a copy of the same will be given to Health and Immigration officials present at the airport/ seaport/ Iandport.

4. Suitable precautionary measures such as environmental sanitation and disinfection shall be ensured at the airports as well as within the flights.

5. While on board the flight/ ship, required precautions such as wearing of masks, environmental hygiene, respiratory hygiene, hand hygiene, etc. are to be observed by airline/ ship staff, crew and all passengers.

6. On arrival, thermal screening would be carried out in respect of all the passengers by the health officials present at the airport/ seaport/ Iandport.

7. In case any passengers develop Covid-19 symptoms, they shall inform the district surveillance officer or the state/national call centre (1075).