Delhi airport mandates RT-PCR test for all flyers from abroad amid Omicron scare
According to the latest guidelines of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, all passengers arriving from “at-risk” countries have to undergo an RT-PCR test on arrival and have to wait for the report before exiting the airport and catching a connected flight.
FollowIndia has revised travel guidelines for international flyers, making it stricter for ‘at risk’ countries. The Centre has asked states/UTs to augment Covid-19 testing to detect positive cases and align travel norms with the guidelines of the Union Health Ministry. Airports across the country have enforced strict quarantine and testing rules for international passengers and Delhi Airport authorities are the latest to tighten the restrictions for international arrivals.
According to reports, the authorities are conducting the RT-PCR test for Rs 500 and a faster Rapid Antigen test for Rs 3,900 for inbound passengers. The RT-PCR test at Delhi International Airport costing Rs 500 will take six hours for the result to be declared. On the contrary, the one costing Rs 4000 will generate a Covid-19 report within an hour.
“Those passengers who are in a hurry and want to come out of the airport faster can opt for the second test which costs Rs 3,900,” a Delhi Airport official said.
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According to the latest guidelines of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, all passengers arriving from “at-risk” countries have to undergo an RT-PCR test on arrival and have to wait for the report before exiting the airport and catching a connected flight.
Most airports offer passengers RT-PCR tests and rapid PCR tests. While the former costs Rs 500 per test, the latter costs Rs 3,000 at the Bengaluru airport, Rs 3,900 at the Delhi airport and Rs 4,500 in the Mumbai airport.
On Wednesday the airport had said that the arrivals were smooth. “Operations for International arrivals are running smooth after the implementation of the New guidelines laid down by @MoHFW_INDIA,” the airport said in a tweet on Wednesday. “Total 1013 passengers from 4 ‘at risk’ flights, successfully completed arrival formalities due to availability of Rapid PCR Test along with RTPCR test. 792 passengers decided to take Rapid PCR Test and 221 passengers opted for RT-PCR Test,” another tweet read.
Meanwhile, four more travellers from “at-risk” countries tested positive for Covid-19 on arrival at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here on Thursday, officials were quoted by PTI. Three out of the 243 people on the Air France flight that landed at the airport around 12 midnight tested positive for Covid, an official said.
One more person travelling with 195 others on a flight from London was found to be infected with coronavirus, the official said. Their samples have been sent to the National Centre for Disease Control for genome sequencing to ascertain if they have the new variant, Omicron, which has been classified as 'variant of concern' by the World Health Organization, PTI reported.
