India mandates 7-day home quarantine for all international arrivals from Jan 11

The Centre has announced that all international arrivals will have to undergo mandatory seven-day home quarantine, and take an RT-PCR test on the eighth day, as it issued revised COVID guidelines.

Released on Friday, the rules come into force from January 11 and will remain effective till further government orders.

The changes come in the wake of coronavirus cases rising across the globe since the detection of the Omicron variant.

Previously, travellers coming from countries specified as “at-risk” had to submit samples for COVID testing post-arrival and were required to wait for their results at the airport before leaving or taking a connecting flight. If negative, they had to undergo home quarantine for seven days and then get their RT-PCR test done on the eighth day.

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Travellers must also upload results of the repeat RT-PCR test on the Air Suvidha portal (to be monitored by the respective states/UTs) on the eighth day. If negative, they will further have to self-monitor their health for the next seven days.

If positive, their samples should be further sent for genomic testing at INSACOG laboratory network. They shall be managed at an isolation facility and treated as per laid down standard protocol.

Before boarding all travellers from “at risk” nations will have to upload a negative RT-PCR report with the test conducted within 72 hrs prior to undertaking the journey.