6 passengers from South Africa, other ‘at-risk’ countries tested positive for Covid: Maharashtra Health Department
The international passengers arriving from at-risk countries (declared by the Government of India from time to time) may be deplaned on priority and separate counters will be arranged by MIAL and Airport Authority for their checking.
New Delhi: Six passengers, who arrived in Maharashtra from South Africa and other high-risk countries, have tested positive for coronavirus and their samples have been sent for genome sequencing, said Maharashtra State health department.
In view of the emergence of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, the Maharashtra government on Tuesday made institutional quarantine mandatory for passengers coming to the state from countries “at-risk” and also RT-PCR mandatory irrespective of vaccination status for those coming from other states.
Following the order, mass cancellations of flights to Mumbai are likely. The Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus has been detected the South Africa and some other countries and has been declared as a variant of concern by the World Health Organisation. The Government of India has declared some countries as countries “at-risk”.
Consequently, in order to restrict the transmission of the said virus variant into the State, in exercise of the powers conferred under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, Chairperson of the State Executive Committee of the State Disaster Management Authority has declared with immediate effect, the restrictions on air travel into the state.