RT-PCR must to enter Mumbai from ‘nations of concern’ – Hindustan Times

All international passengers arriving at the city’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International airport from “countries of concern” including countries from Africa, would be made to undergo mandatory RT-PCR testing for Covid-19, and if found positive, would be sent to an institutional quarantine centre while their samples would be sent to the city’s genome sequencing lab, a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) statement issued on Saturday stated.

The travel history of all international passengers would be verified through their passports on arrival and would be required to proffer their travel history of the past 15 days. All international passengers arriving at the airport will be examined for symptoms of Covid-19.

According to additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani the “countries of concern” include South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Mozambique apart from some Middle Eastern and European countries.

Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray spoke to the municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal on Saturday following which senior BMC officials including additional municipal commissioners Ashwini Bhide, P. Velrasu and Kakani, held a meeting later in the day with the joint commissioner of police (Law and Order) Vishwas Nagre-Patil, airport officials and superintendents of all major hospitals as well as members of the state Covid task force, the statement issued by the civic body said.

The BMC is expected to update its protocol on testing and institutional quarantine for international passengers following further instructions from the state and Central government.

“The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is planning with airport authorities to check travel history of international passengers coming to Mumbai, basis stamps on their passport, to be checked at the immigration counter. This will be made effective right away,” additional municipal commissioner in charge of Mumbai’s civic body’s public health department Suresh Kakani.

This comes in the wake of the detection of a new Sars-CoV-2 variant, referred to as Omicron and designated as a variant of concern (VOC) by the World Health Organization, which was first reported from southern African countries and has now been detected in other European countries including the United Kingdom and Germany.

The state Covid task force has reportedly asked the government to especially monitor passengers from South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia and Eswatini, and send their samples for genome sequencing, state officials said.

“We have shared our information related to the new variant with the central government and have also requested them to suspend the flight services from seven countries. The guidelines related to the Omicron are to be issued by the centre. We are waiting for further communication,” state public health minister Rajesh Tope said.

“We have started taking their swabs and quarantine, if required, will be done. The samples will be sent for genome sequencing. There is no need of panic but due precautions need to be taken,” he said, addressing reporters in Jalna district.

“We are collecting more information on Omicron. At present our focus is to ensure that passengers coming from seven countries are duly screened, tested and quarantined before letting them out into the community. We are rigorously screening the passengers coming from these countries. In fact, we want government of India to suspend flights from these countries,” Maharashtra chief secretary Sitaram Kunte said.

“With Christmas and New Year celebrations, Mumbai is likely to see an influx of international tourists. We are on alert and prepared,” mayor Kishori Pednekar said.

At present, India is only permitting flights from countries with which it has an air bubble agreement. South Africa, where the VOC was detected last week, is not one of them. A circular issued by the Centre on November 26 identified a list of countries as belonging to the “at risk” category. Starting December 15, travellers arriving from these countries would be required to follow additional measures on arrival in India, including post-arrival testing. The list includes South Africa, Botswana (where the VOC was also found) and even the United Kingdom and other European countries. An official order issued by the ministry of civil aviation (MoCA) on Friday stated that flights to and from countries that are considered “at risk” can operate at 75% of the schedule if there is an air-bubble agreement in place with India, and at 50% if there isn’t.

The last BMC circular which laid down the protocol for international passengers arriving in or transiting through Mumbai was issued on September 1. The circular stated that passengers from the United Kingdom, Europe, Middle East countries, South Africa, Brazil, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand and Zimbabwe were required to take a mandatory self-paid tests (RT-PCR) on arrival in Mumbai.

The state government has tested more than 20,000 samples of the virus for genome sequencing since May.

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