New Delhi/Raipur, Dec 22 : The Chhattisgarh government has issued guidelines for prevention of the new variant of Novel Coronavirus after five passengers from the UK who arrived at the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Monday night tested positive.
The Chhattisgarh government's General Administration Department has issued the guidelines for the passengers coming from the UK to Chhattisgarh in international flights.
As per the guidelines issued, RT-PCR test report of the passengers (conducted at the airport on arrival in India or Chhattisgarh via flight or other route) should be properly checked.
Also, if the report is positive, then as per the standard operating procedure (SOP), institutional quarantine at Covid care centres or hospitals would be mandatory.
According to the guidelines, SOP should be followed for the passengers who have come in contact with a Covid positive passenger.
If the report is negative, then the passenger should be advised to be in home isolation for 14 days, as per the SOP issued by the Government of India.
Necessary arrangements for regular follow-up should also be ensured.
India on Monday announced that it has temporarily banned flights from the UK to the country after the emergence of a new and highly infectious strain of coronavirus in Britain.
The suspension of flights from the UK will come into effect from December 22 midnight and will continue till December 31, the government added.
Further, the ministry also said that as a measure of abundant precaution, passengers arriving from the UK in all transit flights (flights that have taken off or flights which are reaching India before 23.59 hrs on December 22) should be subject to mandatory RT-PCR test on arrival at the airports concerned.
Till now, the rules stated that if an international passenger had a Covid negative certificate from a test done 72 hours prior to the journey, he or she need not undergo Covid-19 test again on arrival at the Indian airports.
Countries around the world have begun banning flights and travellers from Britain after authorities in London said on Sunday that the spread of a more infectious new coronavirus strain was now "out of control".
--IANS
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Source: IANS
