For now, Maharashtra is firm on not rolling back travel restrictions that it had imposed on Tuesday, including a mandatory seven-day institutional quarantine for international travellers coming from Omicron-specific “countries at risk” and mandating a negative RT-PCR test report for domestic arrivals irrespective of the vaccination status of the passengers.
However, indicating the possibility of a rethink, official sources said there “might be some changes” on Thursday with revisions to some of the restrictions.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Wednesday wrote to Maharashtra Additional Chief Secretary Dr Pradeep Kumar Vyas stating that four specific guidelines passed by the state for international travellers are in “divergence with the SoPs and guidelines” issued by the Union ministry.
However, Bhushan’s letter did not include the compulsory seven-day institutional quarantine mandated by the Maharashtra government in these four points of divergence. The Union government rules mandated only seven days of home quarantine for passengers who tested negative.
Maharashtra Chief Secretary Debashish Chakraborty told The Indian Express that the state would not “amend or revise” its guidelines but had deferred the implementation by two days to December 3 to give time to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to ramp up its facilities and passengers to become aware of the new rules.
“Under the Disaster Management Act and Epidemic Diseases Act, the state government holds the power to put in additional conditions to prevent the spread of the virus. So the state, acting in accordance with its authority, has decided not to mend or revise the current guidelines issued for international passengers,” he said.
According to Chakraborty, the Centre’s communication is “an advisory, not a compulsion”. “There are basic requirements that need to be observed, which we are following. In future, if any changes need to be made, considering the local situation and convenience of international passengers, we will consider them,” he said.
With the new Covid-19 “variant of concern” cases reported from several countries, Maharashtra had tightened rules for international travellers. The rules stated that international passengers from at-risk countries would have to undergo mandatory institutional quarantine and RT-PCR tests on Day 2, 4 and 7. In case of a positive test report, the person would be shifted to a hospital. Even if all test reports are negative, passengers would still need to quarantine themselves for a further seven days at home.
Passengers from countries not at risk would have to undergo RT-PCR test on arrival and if they test negative, they will be home quarantined for 14 days. If they test positive, they would be shifted to a hospital. Outbound passengers with a connecting flight from Maharashtra will undergo RT-PCR test at the airport and the result will be conveyed to the connecting airline. If found positive, the receiving airport will be informed.
Domestic air passengers travelling within the state need to carry a certificate of double vaccination or RT-PCR test report (sample tested within 48 hours of arrival). However, for all passengers coming from outside Maharashtra, a negative RT-PCR test report (sample tested within 48 hours of arrival) will be compulsory.
“The Centre has suggested randomly testing 5 per cent of travellers from other countries but as the virus has already spread to over 10 countries, we can’t just restrict the screening to countries at risk. RT-PCR tests for all travellers will ensure better safety,” said a senior official from the state Covid-19 task force.
Dr Avinash Bhondwe, former president of Indian Medical Association, Maharashtra, said compulsory quarantine was required. “Dubai contained the spread of the virus by implementing the same strategy. First, quarantine them, then test them. This helps in controlling possible exposure to non-infected people. The state’s guidelines are stringent but as the virus is here to stay, we need to get used to it,” he said.
Currently, Mumbai airport is recording a footfall of 20,000 international passengers daily as per BMC records. To get the facilities ready, the BMC on Wednesday decided to postpone the process of putting travellers from at-risk countries in institutional quarantine till Friday (December 2, 11.59 pm).
Chakraborty said, “We have deferred the process by two days, as BMC will take some time to arrange the logistics. Also, many international passengers are already in the transit or travelling and may not be aware of the new guidelines. So, we will start the process from December 3.”
Many senior doctors from BMC said that arranging for logistics for 3,000-4,000 international travelers will be an uphill task.
“With the relaxation of lockdown rules, hotels, hostels, schools and playgrounds, which were converted into quarantine centres, are now open. So, we have to identify new places… mostly the jumbo centres… to quarantine these passengers for seven days,” he added.
At present, BMC has 6,000-1,000 beds available in Richardson and Cruddas centre in Byculla and 5,000 beds in 20 hotels to quarantine international passengers. It is in the process of roping in the newly built jumbo centres in Malad, Sion and Kanjurmarg, which can provide another 4,000 beds.
“So far, the situation is under control. But we will tie up with more hotels and increase the number of BMC beds. We are running fire inspections at all available jumbo centres. Once we complete the same, we will have more beds,” said Dr Ramesh Bharmal, director of the four civic-run tertiary care hospitals in Mumbai.
Rajesh Bhushan speaks during a press conference by the health ministry. PTI FIle Photo 
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