Guwahati: The Assam government on Sunday night published the SOP behind the threat of Omicron, making it mandatory for all international passengers who arrived in ‘At Risk’ countries to go to quarantine houses seven days even if they tested Covid negative at the airport.
Those who tested positively will be hospitalized according to the protocol and their samples will be sent to the genome sequencing to confirm the omicron variant infection.
The release of the Ministry of Health, however, said children’s travelers under five years have been released from testing, even though they will be tested if found with covid symptoms.
The Minister of Health of Keshab Keshab Mahanta said the district administration that owned the airport had been entrusted with the responsibility of keeping such international travelers under continuous supervision and maintaining regular communication.
All international travelers from countries that come out or come to Assam have been asked to submit the self-declaration form on the online air portal before the scheduled trip, including the details of the last 14 days.
They also had to upload a negative Covid-19 RT-PCR report, which was carried out within 72 hours before the trip.
SOP said those who turned negatively on arrival must be followed up by the district supervision unit concerned on day 2 and day 5, and their RT-PCR tests must be done, if found symptomatic.
If they test negative, they will follow the house quarantine for seven days.
Retest will be carried out on the eighth arrival day in India and if negative, they have to monitor their health for the next seven days, read SOP.
However, if such tourists are tested positively, they say their samples must be sent for testing genomes on the Insacog Laboratory network.
SOP states that they will be managed on separate insulation facilities and are treated according to the standard relaxed protocol.
Contacts of these positive cases will also be stored under institutional quarantine or in the quarantine of the house, monitored strictly by the state government in accordance with the protocol.
SOP said they would also be monitored for symptoms on the second day and fifth and tested for Covid’s ponytitility, if symptomatic was found.
“If asymptomatic, they will be tested on the 8th day by RT-PCR and if found positive, they will undergo treatment as mentioned above and if negative, after 7 days of isolation, it will be released on the 15th day,” read SOP.
Tourists from countries exclude the countries “risky”, will be allowed to leave the airport and will monitor their health for 14 days after arrival.
Sub-section (2% of total flight passengers) will undergo post-arrival testing randomly at the airport, read the SOP.
“2% of these tourists on each flight must be identified by the airlines concerned (preferably from various countries).
Such tourists will be escorted by the airline / moca concerned to the test area on arrival.
The testing costs of the travelers will be borne by Moca “Sop said international travelers who arrived at the land port must also submit the declaration form to the Indian government authority concerned on arrival.
Most protocols remain the same as air passengers.