Isolation Not Mandatory For International Arrivals Testing Covid Positive: Govt

Foreign arrivals from any country into India will not have to mandatorily be managed at an isolation facility even if they test Covid-19 positive from today, but will have to quarantine themselves at home as per the protocols, authorities said.

A revised ‘Guidelines for International Arrivals’ was released on Thursday in which the government said foreign arrivals who tested positive will still have to undergo home quarantine for seven days even after they test negative, and will have to undertake RT-PCR test on the eighth day of arrival in India.

Notably, the guidelines come into effect from today. Earlier, travelers coming in from any country, including those ‘at-risk’ would be managed at an isolation facility and treated according to the standard protocols, according to the government.

The clause that stated staying at ‘isolation facility’ was mandatory upon arrival, has been removed in the revised guidelines.

Though, the government maintained that passengers found to be symptomatic during screening would be immediately isolated and taken to a medical facility. It added that if they tested positive, their contacts would be identified and managed as per the norms.