Friday, November 22, 2024

Mumbai Airport prepared for Omicron

Passengers planning to travel to or through India must submit on the Air Suvidha online portal a self-declaration form with their travel details of the past 14 days, a copy of their passport, a negative COVID-19 RT-PCR report no older than 72 hours before their journey, and a declaration of authenticity of the test report

PRAVASISAMWAD.COM

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA or the Mumbai International Airport) has put in place all necessary measures to implement the Ministry of Health’s latest COVID-19 guidelines on international passengers arriving in India. This follows the World Health Organisation’s announcement that Omicron (B.1.1.529) has been classified as a COVID-19 Variant of Concern. The new guidelines have taken effect from December 1, 2021.

Passengers planning to travel to or through India must submit on the Air Suvidha online portal a self-declaration form with their travel details of the past 14 days, a copy of their passport, a negative COVID-19 RT-PCR report no older than 72 hours before their journey, and a declaration of authenticity of the test report.

Children under 5 years of age are exempted from both pre-arrival and post-arrival testing unless found symptomatic for COVID-19 on arrival or during the home quarantine period.

All passengers are advised to check the new travel norms well in advance of their journey. Detailed guidelines are available at  (GOMCovid19ORDER_30_11_2021.pdf (adaniairports.com)

CSMIA has made elaborate arrangements, including additional testing and resting facilities, for the safety and convenience of arriving passengers. Larger waiting and seating areas with necessary amenities, additional counters and booths for registration and sampling, and more ground staff for faster passenger processing are among the many enhanced safety and convenience measures put in place to handle international passengers.

Adhering to the latest directive issued by the State Government, w.e.f 01.12.201, CSMIA are prepared with following readiness:

Arriving passengers from high-risk countries, will be segregated from passengers arriving from low-risk countries.

Passengers arriving from at risk countries (as declared by GOI order dated 30th Nov, 2021) shall have to undergo mandatory 7 day institutional quarantine and RTPCR test to be carried out on day 2, day 4 and day 7 at the quarantine facility. If any of the tests are found to be positive, then the passenger shall be shifted to a hospital. Incase all the tests come negative; the passenger will have to undergo a further 7days of home quarantine.

Passengers from any other countries except the at-risk countries will have to compulsorily undergo RTPCR test at CSMIA on arrival and on being found negative will have to undergo 14 days of home quarantine. If found positive they will be shifted to the hospital.

In case of an International passenger having a connecting flight to any other airport in India, without leaving the airport at all, passenger shall undergo an RTPCR test at the first arrival airport in Maharashtra and only on being found negative will be allowed to board the connecting flight

 

Adequate RT-PCR testing facility in international arrivals in form of 48 registration counters & 40 sampling booths.

There are four laboratories for RT-PCR testing/ Rapid PCR in International arrivals. In addition to standard RT-PCR, 30 Rapid PCR machines, are available for the passengers having connecting onward flights with short connecting time. This facility will be upscaled further if required.

Passengers can pre-book their RTPCR / Rapid PCR test at these weblinks:

Northstar (as of now only Rapid PCR. They will soon add RTPCR) – https://bit.ly/3uozZ18

Suburban – https://www.suburbandiagnostics.com/book-test/

Lifenity- https://disha.lifenitywellness.com/EhatEnterprise/ehat_online_registration.jsp

Passengers who have not done their pre booking of RT-PCR test online, QR codes have been displayed at various locations in the arrival corridor.

Physical forms for RT-PCR registration are made available to passengers on board with help of airlines which they can fill before disembarking from flight & thus avoid queuing for the registration on arrival.

A large sitting area for the passengers awaiting their RT-PCR results has been be activated with amenities like washrooms, Food and Beverage.

CSMIA has also sensitised relevant stakeholders on the new guidelines and the added facilities for passengers’ convenience.

Passengers are required to be taken to quarantine/hotel facility as per the GoM guidelines, dated November 30, 2021, a dedicated transportation lobby is available and dedicated buses have been made available for the same with help of MCGM. MCGM has arranged adequate number of beds ready for institutional quarantine (self-paid hotels/free MCGM facility)

In case of an International passenger having a connecting flight to any other airport in India, without leaving the airport at all, passenger shall undergo an RTPCR test at the first arrival airport in Maharashtra and only on being found negative will be allowed to board the connecting flight.  At CSMIA, both standard RTPCR and Rapid PCR is available. In case such a passenger is taking a connecting flight to an airport in Maharashtra, passenger shall be subjected to quarantine at the first landing airport.

In case of domestic air travel, passenger travelling within the state of Maharashtra will either need to be fully vaccinated or compulsorily carry a negative RTPCR test within 48 hours of the time of arrival.

In case of passengers from other states travelling to Maharashtra, a negative RTPCR test within 48 hours of arrival will be compulsory without exception.

************************************************************************

Readers

These are extraordinary times. All of us have to rely on high-impact, trustworthy journalism. And this is especially true of the Indian Diaspora. Members of the Indian community overseas cannot be fed with inaccurate news.

Pravasi Samwad is a venture that has no shareholders. It is the result of an impassioned initiative of a handful of Indian journalists spread around the world.  We have taken the small step forward with the pledge to provide news with accuracy, free from political and commercial influence. Our aim is to keep you, our readers, informed about developments at ‘home’ and across the world that affect you.

Please help us to keep our journalism independent and free.

In these difficult times, to run a news website requires finances. While every contribution, big or small, will makes a difference, we request our readers to put us in touch with advertisers worldwide. It will be a great help.

For more information: pravasisamwad00@gmail.com

Related Articles

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

- Advertisement -

EDITOR'S CHOICE