Omicron Threat: Maharashtra Issues New Rules For Mumbai Residents Arriving From Dubai | Details Here

International arrivals residing in other parts of Maharashtra will not be allowed to take public transport while vehicles will be arranged for them.

Representative Photo: PTI

New Delhi: Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Friday issued new guidelines for monitoring of international travellers arriving from Dubai in Mumbai.

According to the new SOP, all international passengers arriving from Dubai who are Mumbai residents will have to compulsorily undergo seven-day home quarantine, followed by RT-PCR on Day 7. 

International passengers who reside in other parts of Maharashtra will not be allowed to take public transport while vehicles will be arranged for them.

“In view of possible threat of unregulated transmission, it is essential to rigorously implement disease surveillance for all international travellers, especially those arriving from countries at risk,” the official order noted. 

Mentioning that there are 12 countries in the Union Government’s list of at risk countries, the order added that “Dubai being the hub where many passengers change the flights and hence there is mixing of travellers at the Dubai International Airport”. 

Therefore, in view of the threat of Omicron infection in Mumbai from the passengers arriving from Dubai, it is essential to issue the guidelines for such travellers, the Mumbai Municipal corporation stated.

The new guidelines for travellers arriving in Mumbai from Dubai, as mentioned in the order, are:

• All international passengers onboarding the flight from Dubai and who are residents of Mumbai will compulsorily undergo seven days of home quarantine after arriving in Mumbai.
  
  
• There shall be no need to do RT-PCR on arrival.
  
  
• Travellers residing in other parts of Maharashtra other than Mumbai will be transferred by Collector, who shall arrange transport for such travellers. These travellers will not be allowed to take public transport.
  
  
• Travellers who have connecting flights to other states or other parts of Maharashtra will be allowed to take the connecting flights, however, it is the responsibility of the Airport Authority to inform the respective Airport Officer regarding the travellers arriving from Dubai.
  
  
• All the travellers arriving from Dubai and who are residents of Mumbai will be in home quarantine and will be followed by the Ward War Room for seven days. On the seventh day, RT-PCR will be done. If the test is negative, the traveller will self-monitor for further seven days. If the test is positive, they will be shifted to institutional quarantine as per the current guidelines for international travellers.

The above rules have been issued with immediate effect, in addition to previous guidelines.

20 New Omicron Cases In Maharashtra

Maharashtra government informed that 20 new cases of Omicron were reported in the state on Friday. Among them, 14 cases were reported by the National Institute of Virology and 6 cases were reported by the Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research (IISER) Pune, the health bulletin stated.

Among the 20 fresh cases, six were reported in Pune, 11 in Mumbai, two in Satara, and one in Ahmednagar.

In its health bulletin, the Maharashtra government informed that 15 people among the new cases have a history of international travel while one has a history of domestic travel and four patients are their high-risk contacts.

“One kid is under 18 years of age and six patients are above 60 years of age,” it stated.

In terms of vaccination status, 12 patients are completely vaccinated, seven are unvaccinated and one is not eligible for inoculation.

As for the severity of disease, all patients are reported to be asymptomatic.

To date, a total of 108 patients infected with the Omicron variant have been reported in Maharashtra. These include Omicron cases found through screening at Mumbai International Airport wherein two patients each were from Karnataka and Kerala, one each from Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jalgaon, Thane and Aurangabad, as per the health bulletin.

54 Omicron-infected patients have been discharged so far following a negative RT PCR test.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra has so far sent 722 samples for genomic sequencing. Results of 157 are currently awaited.