The Jammu and Kashmir government on Monday modified its earlier announced procedure for quarantine of travellers arriving into the union territory from outside by declaring exemptions to compulsory administrative quarantine for some categories.

In an order issued by B.V.R. Subrahmanyam, chief secretary in his capacity as the chairperson of state executive committee for disaster management, exemption from administrative quarantine has been extended to pregnant women in the last trimester, cancer patients on chemotherapy, chronically ill patients discharged from a hospital after a surgical procedure, dialysis patients, mothers with infants below one year, children below 10 years travelling alone without a family member.

The same exemption has been granted to government of India personnel on bona fide duty and to passengers with a COVID negative certificate issued from an ICMR approved lab not older than 48 hours before the arrival date.

Such categories of travellers will be directly sent for 14 home quarantine after taking their samples on arrival.

The order said if the test results are positive, such persons shall be shifted to a COVID hospital for treatment.

All other categories of travellers by air, road or railways will be kept in administrative quarantine till their test results arrive after which those testing negative will go for 14 days home quarantine and those positive will be admitted to a COVID hospital for treatment.