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14-day paid quarantine and 7 days home isolation: Guidelines for international arrivals

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The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on Sunday made it mandatory for stranded Indians arriving from abroad to check into an institutional quarantine for 14 days at their own expense followed by seven days of home isolation.

Specifying guidelines for the international arrivals, the ministry said that before boarding, all the travellers would have to give an undertaking that they would stick to the 14-day institutional quarantine guideline.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on Sunday made it mandatory for stranded Indians arriving from abroad to check into an institutional quarantine for 14 days at their own expense followed by seven days of home isolation.

Specifying guidelines for the international arrivals, the ministry said that before boarding, all the travellers would have to give an undertaking that they would stick to the above rule to ensure least chances of transmission.

Exceptions will be given in a few cases — human distress, pregnancy, death in family, serious illness and parents accompanied by children below 10 years of age. They will be asked to self-isolate at home for 14 days.

All passengers arriving would also be advised to download Aarogya Setu app on their mobile devices. At the time of boarding the flight or ship, all the asymptomatic travellers would be allowed to board after thermal screening. A list of dos and don’ts would also be provided along with the ticket by the agencies they were travelling with.

On Saturday, Union Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said the ministry will try to start some percentage of international passenger flights well before August this year. “We will try to start a good percentage of international passenger flights before August,” he said. However, evacuation of Indians in foreign countries would go on under Vande Bharat Mission. Home Ministry recently also permitted a section of Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) to travel back to India.

Here is the full list of guidelines for international arrivals as listed out by MoHFW

# Before boarding, all travellers shall give an undertaking that they would undergo mandatory quarantine for 14 days — 7 days paid institutional quarantine at their own cost, followed by 7 days isolation at home with self-monitoring of health.

# Only for exceptional and compelling reasons such as 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, home quarantine may be permitted for 14 days. Use of Aarogya Setu app shall be mandatory in such cases.

# Dos and don’ts shall be provided along with ticket to the travelers by the agencies concerned. All passengers shall be advised to download Arogya Setu app on their mobile devices.

# At the time of boarding the flight/ ship, only asymptomatic travelers will be allowed to board after thermal screening.

# Passengers arriving through the land borders will also have to undergo the same protocol as above, and only those who are asymptomatic will be enabled to cross the border into India

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

# The form may also be made available on Aarogya Setu app. Suitable precautionary measures such as environmental sanitation and disinfection shall be ensured at the airports as well as within the flights

# During boarding and at the airports, all possible measures to ensure social distancing to be ensured

# Suitable announcement about COVID-19 including precautionary measures to be followed shall be made at airports/port and in flights/ships and during transit

# 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

# On arrival, thermal screening would be carried out in respect of all the passengers by the Health officials present at the airport/ seaport/ landport

# The passengers found to be symptomatic during screening shall be immediately isolated and taken to medical facility as per health protocol

# The remaining passengers shall be taken to suitable institutional quarantine facilities, to be arranged by the respective State/UT Governments. These passengers shall be kept under institutional quarantine for a minimum period of 7 days. They shall be tested as per ICMR protocol available at https://www.mohfw.gov.in/pdf/Revisedtestingguidelines.pdf. If they test positive, they shall be assessed clinically. If they are assessed as mild cases, they will be allowed home isolation or isolated in the Covid Care Centre (both public & private facilities) as appropriate.

Indian express

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