SOP 3.0 unlikely to give a fillip to domestic flyers

Mangaluru: The standard operating procedure (SOP) 3.0 for entry of persons from other states into Karnataka is unlikely to see a mad rush of people, including business travellers, queue up for domestic air travel resuming on Monday.
The catch lies in sections 4 – a, b and c of the SOP that the commissionerate of health and family welfare and Ayush services released late on Friday. It mandates a total of 14-days of institutional and home quarantine and different set of rules for business travellers.
While home/institutional quarantine applies for people returning from high prevalence states that the state government has notified including via road/rail/air with home quarantine for pregnant women, children below 10, senior citizens above 80 and terminally ill, others for low prevalence states need to undergo 14 days of home quarantine. Businessmen coming for urgent work too have a lot of leg work to do under section c of the new SOP.
For starters, they need to bring a negative test report of Covid-19 from an ICMR approved lab and it should not be more than two-days prior to the date of travel. If they don’t have the certificate, they must undergo Covid-19 test and stay in paid institutional quarantine till the results come. After the results is negative, they can finish their work and return. If their stay is beyond five days, they must go to a fever clinic and get themselves examined.
An auto extension of another five days is granted if found asymptomatic. S Suresh Kumar, nodal minister for Covid-19 briefing in Karnataka, said SOP 3.0 was reframed after deliberations at the highest level involving the chief minister. “The specific needs of business travellers who are used to jet setting between cities across states was taken in to consideration,” he said, adding it could be further refined based on their needs.
TV Mohandas Pai, chairman, Manipal Global Education said the Centre must come up with a common methodology to facilitate travel and not leave it to states. “Hardeep Puri, Piyush Goyal and Nithin Gadkari must facilitate framing of this methodology, failing which there will be chaos and people stranded on arrival at their destination,” Pai told STOI.
“There is also need for adequate testing centres failing which people will not be able to get around,” he added.
Pradeep G Pai, a city-based businessman said, “While the SOP is fine as far as air-travel within the state is concerned, it is a tad cumbersome for inter-state air travel, especially with the quarantine part.”
VV Rao, airport director, Mangaluru International Airport said he has shared the SOP with airlines and requested them to ensure their patrons are clear about sections 4 a-c of the new SOP to avoid last minute confusions.