Mumbai airport updates Gulf, Europe arrival rules

Passengers travelling from West Asia and Europe to Mumbai, irrespective of further travel plans, will be subjected to a mandatory institutional quarantine if they test positive for coronavirus, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) said on Tuesday.

“Any passenger identified as being symptomatic on arrival will be transferred to (a) designated covid facility for further evaluation. Passengers arriving from these regions will be transported by state officials to nearby hotels of their preference to undergo institutional quarantine for seven days at their own cost,” it added.

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In a separate statement later, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) said that transit passengers arriving at Mumbai will be allowed to proceed only if they have conducted a RT-PCR (Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction) test up to 72 hours before boarding the flight, and tested negative.

“If the transit passenger doesn’t have the RT-PCR test report as negative, the passenger may undergo the test at the airport itself. Only after the results are received as negative, he/she shall be allowed to proceed to the final destination,” it said adding that if the results turned out positive the passenger shall be admitted to MCGM Hospital. It said international passengers from Europe and West Asia would be considered for exemption from the seven- day compulsory institutional quarantine by a nodal officer of MCGM or deputy collector of Mumbai suburban district, if they test negative.

The development comes after India suspended flights from and to the UK at least till 31 December to prevent the spread of a new strain of the coronavirus. CSMIA said that instead of undergoing a test at the airport, “passengers will have to undergo the RT-PCR test during the 5th-7th day of the institutional quarantine at the hotel at their own cost.

“Passengers with a negative test report will be discharged to observe home quarantine for another seven days. Meanwhile, passengers with a positive report will be directed to continue to quarantine at the same hotel or in a state-designated covid facility for 14 days.”