The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday, 24 May, issued guidelines for domestic travel, including air, train and inter-state bus travel, as well as international arrivals amid the coronavirus lockdown in India.
This comes ahead of domestic civil aviation set to begin from Monday, while the Railways will be running 200 new passenger trains from 1 June.
The Centre has already allowed the inter-state movement of passenger vehicles and buses with restrictions and subject to mutual consent between the states or Union territories involved.
Domestic Travel
According to the guidelines, do’s and don'ts shall be provided along with tickets to the travellers by the agencies concerned and all passengers are advised to download the Aarogya Setu app on their mobile devices.
All passengers will have to wear face covers or masks during boarding and travelling.
Further, all passengers will be required to undergo thermal screening at the point of departure and only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to board the flight, train or bus. However, they will only be allowed with the advice that they should self-monitor their health for 14 days.
Thermal screening will also take place at the exit point.
Measures to ensure social distancing will have to be taken at airports/railway stations/ bus terminals and they shall be also be regularly sanitised and disinfected.
International Arrivals
The Health Ministry on Sunday also issued guidelines for international arrivals in India. According to these, all travellers are required to give an undertaking before boarding that they will undergo mandatory quarantine for 14 days – of which seven days will be paid institutional quarantine at their own cost, and seven days home isolation.
Moreover, only asymptomatic people will be allowed to board after thermal screening, and they will be screened by health officials on arrival as well.
Those found to be symptomatic during screening shall be isolated and taken to a medical facility, while the remaining will be taken to suitable institutional quarantine facilities.
As with domestic travel guidelines, social distancing measures, sanitation and disinfecting will be ensured.
All passengers are advised to download Aarogya Setu app on their mobile devices for this purpose too. The app will be mandatory for those who are home quarantining for all 14 days on arrival, in special cases.
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