Maharashtra govt mandates quarantine for air passengers from Europe, Middle East

The Maharashtra government in a circular Monday said it has decided to conduct institutional quarantine for all passengers from all over Europe and the Middle East for 14 days after landing at the airport, as well as home quarantine for passengers from other countries.

Earlier in the day the central government banned flights from the UK from December 22 till Dec 31 as a new infectious strain of the Coronavirus emerged.

According to the Maharahtra government circular from chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, passengers from other countries will be checked and stamped with their hands and will be home quarantined.


He also said that those traveling from Europe and the Middle East should be informed if they have flown within the country.
Separately, the Mumbai municipal authority said all the passengers arriving from UK before the ban comes into affect. directly or through indirect flights should be subjected to mandatory institutional quarantine at their own cost, in the nearby hotels for seven days.

“lf the passenger is found symptomatic on arrival, then he will be shifted directly to Seven Hills Hospital for further evaluation and treatment,” said the circular from Mumbai’s BMC.

“On arrival, no RT-PCR test will be conducted. However, RT-PCR test will be conducted during sth to 7th day at the hotels at the cost of the quarantined passengers. If the report of the test is found negative, the passenger would be discharged from the institutional quarantine after 5 to 7 days with the advice of 7 days mandatory home quarantine,” it said.

“lf the test result is found positive but asymptomatic then he will be continued in the same hotel in quarantine or in the COVID-19 hotel for 14 days,” it added.

The city’s bus service will make arrangements to transport all the passengers coming from UK by direct or indirect flights to the hotels.

The circular said 800 rooms will be required immediately on December 21 for passengers arriving from U.K.

The hotels will be linked to private laboratories for testing the boarders. The state government also decided to impose curfew in the municipal area from 11 pm to 6 am from tomorrow and it will remain in force till January 5.