As India sounds alert over the new Omicron COVID-19 variant, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday, 1 December, announced that all domestic passengers arriving at the Mumbai airport need to carry a negative RT-PCR test report.
“The Mumbai Airport operator to communicate to all domestic Airlines that they shall not board, ordinarily, any passenger for landing in Mumbai without RT-PCR test with negative result taken within 72 hours of departure.”BMC
The civic body also directed that the latest guidelines issued by the government of India be enacted with immediate effect.
As per the guidelines issued by the state government, all passengers landing in Maharashtra from 'at-risk' countries will mandatorily undergo a self-paid COVID-19 test upon their arrival.
"As ordered in the latest guidelines, the passengers coming from risk countries shall compulsorily undergo institutional quarantine for one week. They shall also undergo COVID RT-PCR tests on the 2nd, 4th, and 7th day post-arrival," an official circular read.
The countries designated as ‘at-risk' include European countries, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Brazil, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Israel.
Meanwhile, reports indicated that six fliers from 'at-risk' nations have tested COVID-positive in Maharashtra. The strain of the coronavirus for the aforementioned cases has not been ascertained yet.
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