Maharashtra: Mandatory institutional quarantine for fliers from Europe, Middle East

An airport staffer takes thermal reading of a passenger. File pic

The state government on Monday announced mandatory 14-day institutional quarantine for fliers from the UK, the Middle East and Europe in view of the discovery of a new, more infectious strain of the novel Coronavirus in England. Air passengers from other countries will have to go in home quarantine after an antigen test.

The decision was taken at a meeting Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray held with senior bureaucrats and COVID Task Force officials on Monday evening to discuss a precautionary move to ensure the new strain does not sneak into the state. "The new virus strain found in Britain is spreading fast. We need to be more alert," stated a CMO press release.

Meanwhile, people, who have returned from Britain, Europe and the Middle East before the new guidelines were announced, have been told to inform the local authorities. Municipal commissioners of cities where international flights operate have been told to arrange hotels for quarantine and independent hospitals to treat infected passengers. All the airport employees handling international flights will be given personal protective equipment (PPE).

All flights entering the city from Britain have been suspended from Wednesday, December 23. Till then, five flights from the UK are going to land at the Mumbai International Airport. BMC chief Iqbal Singh Chahal said, "Around 2 lakh international passengers landed on the Mumbai airport between February 1 and March 22 which resulted in the transmission of novel Coronavirus. We cannot take any risk this time around."

Around 1,000 passengers from the UK will arrive in the city between Monday night to Tuesday midnight. "The passengers with symptoms will be directly sent to SevenHills hospital. Others will have the option to choose from the 1,000 luxury hotel rooms and 1,000 rooms in budget hotels. Everybody will undergo RT-PCR test on the fifth to seventh day, based on their symptoms," he added. If passengers test negative then they will be allowed to quarantine at home. Like before, passengers will have to bear the cost of hotel rooms and the test.

Civic officials said the mandatory quarantine for passengers coming from other European countries will be applicable from Wednesday onwards. The symptomatic passengers will be shifted to state-run G T Hospital and others will remain under compulsory quarantine.