From PPEs to quarantine: All you need to know as flight services resume

All stranded Indian nationals arriving from abroad will have to undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine period ⁠— seven days institutional isolation at their own expense, followed by seven days of home quarantine, the Health Ministry said on Sunday (May 24).

In guidelines issued for international arrivals, the ministry stated that 14 days of home quarantine shall be allowed for special cases such as human distress, pregnancy, death in family, serious illness and parents accompanied by children below 10 years of age.

The guidelines come a day after Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said India will try to restart a good percentage of international passenger flights before August. All scheduled commercial passenger flights have been suspended in India since March 25. While domestic flights will resume from Monday, international flights remain suspended.

It said that the before boarding, the passengers will have to sign a self-declaration for the same to ensure no last minute chances of getting the infection, to be given to Health and Immigration officer on airport/seaport/landport.

The download and use of Aarogya Setu mobile app has been made mandatory for all travellers to ensure suitable precautionary measures.

The guidelines specified that only passengers who are found asymptomatic for coronavirus at the time of boarding during thermal screening will be allowed to travel and a list of do’s and don’ts would be made available to them with their tickets.

On arrival, passengers found to be symptomatic during screening shall be immediately isolated and taken to a medical facility as per health protocol, they said.

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The remaining passengers shall be taken to suitable institutional quarantine facilities, to be arranged by respective State/UT governments, the guidelines said.

These passengers shall be kept under institutional quarantine for a minimum period of 7 days, they said.

They shall be tested as per ICMR protocol available, the guidelines said, adding that if they test positive, they shall be assessed clinically.

If they are assessed as mild cases, they will be allowed home isolation or isolated in the COVID Care Centre (both public & private facilities) as appropriate, the guidelines said.

Those having moderate or severe symptoms will be admitted to dedicated COVID health facilities and managed accordingly, the health ministry said. If found negative, they shall be advised to further isolate themselves at home and self-monitor their health for 7 days, it said.

In case, any symptoms develop they shall inform the district surveillance officer or the state/national call centre (1075), the guidelines said. States can also develop their own protocol with regards to quarantine and isolation as per their assessment, they said.

Similar safety protocols were announced by the ministry on Sunday for domestic air, train and inter-state bus travel.

While making the use of Aarogya Setu app mandatory, the ministry said that it is a reliable contact tracing system and also consists of the self-declaration forms needed to be filled by passengers ahead of their travel.

A list of do’s and don’ts would be provided for passengers taking domestic modes of travel along with their tickets.

All passengers are expected to use face masks and hand sanitisers, while regular cleaning and disinfection of railway stations, airports, and bus stations should be conducted.

The guidelines specified on the importance of maintaining social distancing and how asymptomatic travellers permitted to go home need to closely monitor their health for 14 days during quarantine.