People pass through during the morning rush-hour. (Representational image)
Highlights
- Civil Aviation Ministry issues new guidelines for international travellers from 'at-risk' countries
- New rules for international travellers have been issued amid Omicron threat
- Omicron -- the new Covid variant -- had first surfaced in South Africa
Amid rising Omicron cases in the country, the Civil Aviation Ministry on Tuesday issued new guidelines for international travellers from 'at-risk' countries.
According to the new circular, "starting Dec 20th, all international travelers from 'at-risk' countries, arriving at airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad will have to compulsorily prebook an RT-PCR test."
However, it clarified that in case a person faces any difficulty in pre-booking the test, the passenger must not be denied boarding.
According to the Union health ministry, 'at-risk countries include countries in Europe including the United Kingdom, South Africa, Brazil, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Hong Kong, China, Ghana, Mauritius, New Zealand and Israel.
In an order on Tuesday, the Civil Aviation Ministry said, "Air Suvidha portal would be modified to allow the passengers to mandatorily pre-book the RT PCR test if they are coming from the countries 'at risk' or have visited 'at risk' countries in the last 14 days."
The link to the airport website would be provided in Air Suvidha platform which would be displayed to passengers while filling up the self-declaration form, it mentioned.
"To stabilise the system and to ensure that the passengers would not have any problem in pre-booking, payment, etc, it may be implemented in six metro cities, namely, Delhi, Mumbai Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad in the first phase," it noted.
Considering the convenience of the travellers, a lead time of a week would be provided, it said. This means the new system to come into effect on December 20, it stated.
Aviation regulator DGCA is requested to issue advisory to all airlines to check mandatory pre -booking of their passengers before boarding the flight, it mentioned.
"In case any passenger is having any difficulty in pre-booking, they may not be denied boarding, but it would be the responsibility of the airlines to identify and accompany such passengers to the registration counter at the airport for testing," it noted.
Under the new norms that came into force from December 1, RT-PCR tests are mandatory for passengers arriving from "at-risk" countries, and they will be allowed to leave the airport only after the results come.
Also, two percent of passengers arriving on all flights from other countries -- such as the US -- will be subjected to the test randomly.
(With inputs from PTI)
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