IT Correspondent
Mumbai, Dec 02:
The Union Government on Wednesday decided to put its plan to resume international flights from December 15 on hold, following the emergence of new COVID variant-Omicron and resultant uncertainty.
“In view of the evolving global scenario with the emergence of new variants of concerns, the situation is being watched closely in consultations with all stakeholders and an appropriate decision indicating the effective date of resumption of scheduled commercial international passenger services shall be notified in due course”, Neeraj Kumar, Director of Regulations and Information, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) stated in the circular dated December 01, 2021.
The circular postponing the resumption of flights was sent to all foreign and domestic scheduled airlines operating to/from India, the chairperson of the Airport Authority of India (AAI), all airport operators in India and the commissioner of the bureau of immigration.
Earlier the DGCA wide the circular dated November 26 had indicated that the scheduled international flights would be resumed on December 15,2021.
Scheduled international flights have remained suspended in India since March 23, 2020, after the coronavirus pandemic hit. India suspended international flight operations, effective 23 March 2020. This was periodically extended every month till November 30, before the government on November 26 announced plans to resume scheduled international flight services.
Prior to November 26, international flights operated between India and other countries under bilateral air bubble agreements. India currently has air bubble agreements with as many as 30 countries—from Afghanistan and Bangladesh to Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Singapore, the UAE, UK and US, among the others. Now the international flights will continue under air bubble agreements, till further notification, a senior DGCA official said.
Major economies across the world have rushed to take precautionary measures after scientists said they had found a highly virulent and possibly vaccine-resistant variant of the covid-19 virus in South Africa. The UK has said the ‘Omicron’ variant was the most significant one found yet, and banned flights from six southern African countries – South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, and Namibia.
ICMR approves systems for molecular testing of SARS-CoV-2
In another development the ICMR has approved nine systems for molecular testing of SARS-CoV-2. In continuation to the “Algorithm: Guidelines for International Arrivals “ issued on November 28, by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), the clarification has been issued by MoHFW for better understanding of the passengers and to enable them for safe, secure and hassle-free International Air Travel.
ICMR has approved the following systems for molecular testing of SARS-CoV-2 (all these systems are considered equivalent to RTPCR). All the labs who would conduct the tests would follow the ICMR/ MoHFW guidelines to ensure genome sequencing for all positive cases.
The systems include: Open system RTPCR, TrueNat, GeneXpert, RTLAMP, CRISPR/TATAMDCHECK/FELUDA, Abbott ID Now, Accula by Thermofisher, Rapid RTPCR and CoviDxDirectPlex. Airports are directed by union Ministry of Civil Aviation, to facilitate the RT-PCR testing of passengers by extending the required facilities and logistics.
Travellers undergoing random sampling may give the sample and be allowed to leave. Now, the random sampling would be limited to 2% as per latest MoHFW guidelines and it would be on self-paid basis. Airlines/Airports may co-ordinate with the officials of State/UT Governments to select the passenger at random sampling.
Post-arrival testing can be exempted if a person is travelling from a NOT AT RISK country and has only a transit (without leaving immigration) in AT RISK country before taking the destination flight. However, if the person has travelled to any AT RISK country in last 14 days, he/she will be asked for post arrival testing and other additional restrictions, etc.
After the negative results are received, the passengers can take connecting flights to reach their final destination. Besides a passenger can exit the airport or can take connecting flights for final destination once the negative report is received. He/She need not wait for the report of all the co-passengers.
