MUMBAI:
International passengers from Europe, UK, Middle East, South Africa and
Brazil will no longer have to undergo the mandatory week long institutional quarantine on arrival in Mumbai if they have received both the doses of
Covid vaccine, said the
BMC in an order issued on Saturday. Apart from the vaccinated lot, the new norm gives exemption from institutional quarantine to six other categories of passengers, including those over 65 years of age, women in advanced stage of pregnancy, passengers with serious illnesses etc.
Under the norms passed on January 20, all passengers arriving from or transiting from the above mentioned destinations had to undergo mandatory institutional quarantine for 7 days followed by 7 days of home quarantine on arrival in Mumbai. The January order had no room for exemption.
Under the new office order though, exemption from week long institutional quarantine has been granted to those mentioned above, like senior citizens, pregnant women and then others, like for instance: both parents accompanying children below 5 years of age. Passengers with serious illness that require immediate medical attention such as cancer, severe physical disability, mental illness, cerebral palsy can skip quarantine if they have supporting medical documents. Passengers facing extreme family distress conditions like father, mother, son, daughter in critical condition (on death bed), severe accident in family, death of immediate family member too will be exempt from institutional quarantine if they can provide ``convincing support documents’’ to the airport staff, said the BMC order.
Medical professionals that intend to travel for performing life saving surgery, attend to critical patients will be exempt from institutional quarantine if they can furnish proof from the hospitals where they are to perform the surgery or provide the medical service concerned, said the BMC order that came into effect on Saturday.The vaccinated lot can skip quarantine if they show vaccination certificates and also fill a self-declaration form.
``Medical professionals who intend to travel for life-saving surgeries or attend to critical patients have been requesting for exemption from quarantine ‘’ said the BMC order adding that since Covid-10 vaccination has commenced in various countries and many passengers have received both the doses of Covid vaccine the civic body decided to grant exemption to certain categories of passengers.