Here’s what has changed in New travel rules for International arrivals

Union health ministry has issued new guidelines for international arrival amid the spread of mutant variants of Covid-19. The new Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) will come into effect from today i.e. February 22 till further orders.

According to the latest SOPs, for the next 14 days, all foreign travellers arriving from flights originating in the UK, Europe and the Middle East will have to reveal their travel history.

Here are the guidelines for international arrivals effective Monday (22 February):

1. All international travellers will have to submit self-declaration (SDF) for Covid on the online Air Suvidha portal before the scheduled travel.
2. They will also have to upload a negative COVID-19 RT-PCR report on the online portal www.newdelhiairport.in.
3. The test should have been conducted within 72 hours prior to the journey and each passenger will also have to submit a declaration with respect to the authenticity of the report.
4. At the time of boarding the flight, only asymptomatic travellers will be allowed to board after the thermal screening.
5. All passengers should wear masks throughout the ride, follow social distance standards, and have downloaded the Aarogya Setu app.
6. International travellers arriving through seaports/land ports will also have to undergo the same protocol, except that facility for online registration is not available for such passengers currently, as per the civil aviation ministry guidelines.
7. Airlines should identify the international travellers arriving from/transiting through the United Kingdom, Brazil and South Africa (during the past 14 days) and segregate them in-flight.
8. All the travellers arriving from/transiting through flights originating in the United Kingdom, Europe or the Middle East shall be mandatorily subjected to self-paid confirmatory molecular tests on arrival at the Indian airports concerned (port of entry).
9. All travellers from Europe and the Middle East shall give samples at the designated area and exit the airport. If the test report is negative, they will be advised to self-monitor their health for 14 days. If the test report is positive, they will undergo treatment as per standard health protocol.
10. Scheduled international passenger flights continue to remain suspended in India. International flight operations have been suspended since March 23 amid the coronavirus pandemic. Overseas flights to and from India are currently operated as per air bubble agreements with various countries. Domestic flights, on the other hand, resumed in India from May 25 after a gap of two months due to the coronavirus-triggered lockdown.