By Raju Vernekar
Mumbai, Dec 28:
The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai(BMC), has decided to amend the mandatory institutional quarantine rules for passengers arriving at the Mumbai International Airport from the UK, South Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.
Under the new guidelines issued by the BMC, travellers will be kept under institutional quarantine on arrival and RT-PCR tests will be conducted only on the seventh day after at the hotel or institution they are lodging at their own cost. If the reports of the test come negative, they will be allowed to leave the quarantine facility on the condition of seven days mandatory home quarantine. Returnees will be stamped ‘home quarantine’ and they have to submit an undertaking that they will abide by guidelines.
“If the report of the test is found negative, the passenger will be discharged from institutional quarantine after 7 (seven) days with advice of 7 (seven) days mandatory home quarantine. If the test of the passengers returning from UK is found positive, they will be shifted to designated COVID-19 hospital, Seven Hills, while travellers from other countries will be shifted to GT Hospital, the BMC’s statement said.
Institutional quarantine guidelines are exempted for officials working in foreign embassy and Counsel General Office. Officials working in the embassy applying for exemption will have to adhere to guidelines under the Vande Bharat Mission.
In case of home quarantine, undertakings will be taken from passengers to stay at home during the quarantine period while they will also be stamped during the process.
As things stand, India has suspended flights to and from the UK till 31 December to prevent the spread of a new strain of the coronavirus that is considered to be 70% more infectious.
Meanwhile, South Africa’s health department has said that a new genetic mutation of the virus had been discovered and might be responsible for a recent surge in infections in the country.
Earlier the BMC guidelines on 14 days mandatory quarantine suggested symptomatic passengers from the UK to be sent to the hospital for further investigation and check up. Passengers from the rest of the countries like Southeast Asia and the United States will not be sent to institutional quarantine, however, will be stamped for 14 days home quarantine by airport authorities as a precautionary measure.
The Maharashtra government has imposed a seven-hour night curfew in cities across Maharashtra from December 22 onwards for the next 15 days as a precautionary measure.
The new mutant strain of coronavirus found in the UK has forced Prime Minister Boris Johnson to announce another lockdown before Christmas. Several countries have imposed restrictions on flights from the UK and other European countries and South Africa.
