All international passengers will now have to home quarantine for a week on arrival in India, as the Indian government tightened curbs, declared weekend curfew in some places, including capital Delhi and announced revised travel guidelines Friday amid a surge in cases believed to be fuelled by the Omicron variant. 

Travellers from specified countries at risk will have to submit samples for Covid testing at the point of arrival in India. They will be allowed to leave the airport premises only after their test results are in, according to the new rules. Those who test negative will have to quarantine at home for seven days and will have to undergo an RT-PCR test on the eighth day of their arrival, NDTV said. 

If anyone tests positive, their samples will be further sent for genomic testing at INSACOG laboratory network. Those who test positive will be managed at an isolation facility and treated as per standard protocol. Respective states will have to then begin tracing the contacts of these passengers. However, if they are negative, they will have to self-monitor for the next seven days.

Two per cent of the fliers coming in from countries not specified under the at-risk category will be picked at random for testing on arrival at the airport. These people will be identified by the airlines they are travelling in. . All passengers, including the two per cent selected for random testing, will remain in home quarantine for a week upon testing negative and will take the RT-PCR test on the eighth day of arrival.

International travellers arriving in India through seaports or land ports will also be bound by the same rules, except that they will not have the facility to register. They will have to submit the self-declaration form to authorities on arrival, NDTV said. 

Children under five are exempted from Covid testing. However, if they are found to be symptomatic for COVID-19 on arrival or while in-home quarantine, they will be tested and treated according to protocol.

India today reported 1,17,100 new cases of COVID-19, a week after the country crossed the 10,000 mark, as the virus continues to spread at an unprecedented pace, largely driven by the Omicron variant now present in 27 states. The country has so far reported 3,007 cases of the Omicron variant so far. However, the government, in its revised travel guideline issued today, said, "The global trajectory of the Covid-19 pandemic continues to decline with certain regional variations."

(SAM)