Indian government takes strict action over Covid's new Omicron variant

The Health Ministry, in a statement, said: "The existing guidelines have been revised in view of reporting of a new variant of SARS-CoV-2 (B.1.1.529; named Omicron) which has been now classified as VOC by the WHO."

According to the new guidelines, the passengers travelling from countries that are categorised as 'at-risk' will have to undergo testing on arrival.

If the passengers test positive, their samples will be sent for genomic sequencing, and they will be sent to institutional quarantine.