The Union government, on Thursday, relaxed travel restrictions for international passengers, scrapping the mandatory quarantine period which previously stood at seven days. Instead, a self-monitoring period of 14 days has been allowed.

Passengers have also been given the option of submitting a negative RT-PCR report (taken 72 hours before the journey) or a certificate of completing full primary vaccination schedule of Covid-19.

“All travellers will self-monitor their health for next 14 days of arrival. If travellers under self-health monitoring develop signs and symptoms suggestive of Covid-19, they will immediately self-isolate and report to their nearest health facility or call national/State helpline numbers,” the new order stated.

The new rules come into effect from February 14.

A sub-section (2 per cent of the total passengers in the flight) of passengers shall still undergo random post-arrival testing at the airport. Such travellers shall be identified by the concerned airlines (preferably from different countries). They will submit the samples and shall be allowed to leave the airport, the order read. If tested positive, the samples ore to be sent for genome testing.

Before boarding a flight to India, passengers will need to submit a self-declaration form on the online Air Suvidha portal. Declaration should including the last 14 days’ travel details, and they need to take a print out of the form submitted online.

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