The Ministry of Health has urged all states to ensure that 5% of international travellers arriving at airports from countries other than those listed as "at risk" would be subjected to random testing.
With reports of Omicron, a new Covid "variant of concern" circulating around the world, the Central Government issued revised guidelines for international travellers arriving from Europe, including the United Kingdom, and 11 other "at risk" countries on Sunday, requiring testing upon arrival, home quarantine for seven days if the result is negative, and a retest on the eighth day.
The Ministry of Health has urged all states to ensure that 5% of international travellers arriving at airports from countries other than those listed as "at risk" would be subjected to random testing.
The Centre has also decided to revisit the resume date for scheduled foreign commercial flights "in light of the shifting global picture." After a 21-month hiatus, the Ministry of Civil Aviation confirmed on Friday that these flights will resume on December 15.
The Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for testing and surveillance of incoming international travellers will also be examined, particularly for nations classified as "at risk."
The Ministry of Health has outlined five steps for overseas travellers from "at-risk" countries:
- They will be required to submit a sample for a Covid test upon arrival and wait for the results before departing or connecting flights..
- If they test negative, they will be placed on a seven-day home quarantine. On the eighth day after arrival, a testing will be conducted. For the next seven days, they must self-monitor their health.
- If travellers test positive, their samples will be submitted to the INSACOG laboratory network for genomic testing.
- Those who test positive will be sent to a separate isolation facility and treated according to established protocol, which includes contact tracing.
- Positive cases contacts will be quarantined in institutions or at home, and the state authority in charge will closely monitor them according to protocol.
Apart from all European countries, including the United Kingdom, the Health Ministry has identified 11 other countries as "at-risk": South Africa, Brazil, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Israel.
According to a statement released by the WHO on Sunday, there is currently no solid proof that the newly identified variant is more transmissible or capable of causing more serious diseases than other variants.
Meanwhile, the Center's new instructions specify that travellers from countries that are not considered "at risk" will be permitted to leave the airport but must self-monitor their health for 14 days after arriving, with the exception of the 5% who will be randomly examined.
The instructions specify that if travellers under home quarantine or self-health monitoring exhibit signs and symptoms suggestive of Covid or test positive on re-testing, they must self-isolate and report to the nearest health centre.
Separately, the Health Ministry urged all states on Sunday to verify past travel data of passengers arriving on international flights — and to ensure thorough testing on travellers arriving from "at-risk nations," with positive samples being sent for genome sequencing as soon as possible.
Arvind Kejriwal, the Chief Minister of Delhi, wrote to the Prime Minister, demanding that international flights from areas where Covid cases are on the rise be halted.
Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, announced that his government has chosen to increase its genome sequencing operations. Chouhan stated that the state will track, test, and, if necessary, isolate international passengers who arrived within the last month.
The critical decision to assess the resumption of normal foreign flights occurred just a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi instructed officials to review the easing of travel restrictions in the wake of growing Omicron worries.
"The global situation in the aftermath of the Omicron virus was thoroughly examined." Various preventive actions that have been implemented and that need to be strengthened were discussed. The government will evaluate its standard operating procedure for testing and surveillance of arriving international passengers, particularly for nations classified as "at risk," according to a statement from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
Meanwhile, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan reminded the states that there is "an existing reporting mechanism for getting past trip records of travellers arriving via overseas aircraft."
"This should be reviewed at your level, and the protocol provided by this Ministry should be strictly followed, including testing on disembarkation of international travellers arriving from 'At Risk' countries and sending all positive samples for genome sequencing to INSACOG (Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium) labs in a timely manner," Bhushan wrote in a letter to the states.
States should "substantially boost sampling" for genome sequencing of positive cases, according to the Health Secretary. "INSACOG was created to keep track of the country's circulating variations. "At this point, states must greatly enhance genome sequencing sampling from the general population/community by delivering these samples to the INSACOG lab network as per policy," Bhushan wrote.
The Ministry of Health has encouraged states to keep an eye on hotspots "where a recent cluster of positive cases has occurred."
"Saturation testing and rapid delivery of positive samples for genome sequencing to approved INSACOG labs must be ensured in all such hotspots, in coordination with the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and the National Centre for Disease Control," says the report (NCDC). States should maintain a careful eye on the number of cases and the level of positive in a given area, and swiftly identify hotspots for effective containment, according to Bhushan's letter.
The Health Ministry has instructed states to take a four-pronged approach: intensive containment, active surveillance, greater immunisation coverage, and "extremely proactive" enforcement of Covid proper behaviour.
Following Modi's high-level review, Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla convened an emergency meeting. Dr V K Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog; Dr VijayRaghavan, Prime Minister's Principal Scientific Advisor; and senior officials from different ministries, including Health and Civil Aviation, attended the meeting.
"Airport health officials (APHOs) and port health officials (PHOs) will be educated on the importance of thorough testing protocol oversight at airports and ports." The decision on the effective date of the restoration of scheduled commercial international passenger service will be revisited as the global situation evolves. The MHA stated that "a closer eye on emerging pandemic conditions within the country will be maintained."
