Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Thursday said revised guidelines for domestic air travel will be issued by the state government in the next couple of days, amid concerns over the ‘Omicron’ variant of coronavirus.
Tope’s comments came a day after the Centre asked the state to align its order with the SOPs issued by the Union Health Ministry.
Maharashtra has mandated seven-day institutional quarantine for travellers arriving in the state from ‘at-risk’ countries under the guidelines issued by the State Disaster Management Authority on Tuesday night.
Such passengers will also undergo RT-PCR test on the second, fourth and seventh day of arrival.
If found to be COVID-19 positive, the passenger will be shifted to a hospital. In case the test is negative, the passenger will still have to undergo seven-day home quarantine.
The Mumbai civic body on Wednesday mandated all domestic passengers landing at the city airport to carry a negative RT-PCR report not older than 72 hours.
In Maharashtra, six passengers from the high-risk countries have tested positive for coronavirus so far, a health bulletin earlier said.
Talking to PTI on Thursday, Tope said, “The strict guidelines are deferred as the state administration is preparing a new set of guidelines for domestic and international air travel. The fresh set of guidelines will be out in the next couple of days.
“Amendments will be made in the guidelines for domestic air travellers only. The international air travellers will have to follow the strict guidelines, as defined by the Union health ministry. There will not be much change,” the minister said.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday said the Maharashtra government’s directives “shall become operational from 23:59 hours of December 2, 2021”.
