In continuation of the international arrivals guidelines issued on November 28, the government, on Wednesday, clarified that travellers coming from the countries that are not in the ‘at risk’ category, undergoing random sampling, may give the sample and leave without waiting for the results. The Civil Aviation Ministry also clarified that the random sampling would be limited to 2 per cent on a self-paid basis.

“Now, the random sampling would be limited to 2 per cent as per latest MoHFW (Health Ministry) guidelines, and it would be on a self-paid basis. Airlines/Airports may coordinate with the officials of State/UT governments to select the passenger at random sampling,” said the Ministry.

The Ministry further clarified that post-arrival testing can be exempted if a person is travelling from a ‘not at risk’ country and has only a transit (without leaving immigration) in ‘at risk’ country before taking the destination flight. However, if the person has travelled to any ‘at risk’ country in the last 14 days, he/she will be asked for post arrival testing and other additional restrictions. It also said that after receiving negative results, the passengers can take connecting flights to reach their final destination.

‘Need not wait for result’

“A passenger can exit the airport or can take connecting flights for final destination once the negative report is received. He/she need not wait for the report of all the co-passengers,” it added.

Meanwhile, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has approved the following systems for molecular testing of SARS-CoV-2 – Open system RT-PCR, TrueNat, GeneXpert, RTLAMP, CRISPR/TATAMD CHECK/FELUDA, Abbott ID Now, Accula by Thermofisher, Rapid RT-PCR, CoviDx DirectPlex. Also, all labs that conduct the tests will follow the ICMR guidelines to ensure genome sequencing for all positive cases, it added.

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