The Union Health Ministry, in a notification, on Friday said that all international travelers will need to undergo 7-day mandatory home quarantine on arrival in India, even if they test negative for Covid-19 at the airport.
The new rules for international passengers will be set in from January 11.
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They will then have to undertake an RT-PCR test on the 8th day of arrival in the country. If the test is negative, the passengers "will further self-monitor their health for next seven days".
If the passengers test positive, they will be sent to an isolation facility and their samples will be sent for genome testing. Passengers seated near those who test positive for coronavirus and cabin crew will be treated as contacts.
For flights from countries that are not on the "at-risk" list, two percent of the passengers picked randomly, will be tested on arrival.
The number of "at-risk" countries has been increased to 19; nine more have been added since December last year.