Travellers at the newly opened Terminal 1 of Dubai Airport.

Gulf Today Report

India's health ministry revised its guidelines for international arrivals on Sunday following the news of COVID variant Omicron — designated as a Variant of Concern (VOC) by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The new guidelines will come into effect on December 1.

The Ministry of Health, in a statement, said, “Existing guidelines have been revised for reporting a new variant of SARSCoV2 (B.1.1.529; called Omicron) which has now been  classified as a VOC by the WHO.

The guidelines are:

- International arrivals will now have to upload their 14-day travel history and present valid a negative RT PCR test report on Air Suvidha portal before travelling to India.

- The RT-PCR test report should not be more than 72 hours old.

- Passengers travelling from countries that are categorised as 'at-risk' will have to undergo testing on arrival.

A woman undergoes a PCR test at Dubai Airport. File

- If the passengers test positive, their samples will be sent for genomic sequencing, and they will be sent to institutional quarantine.

- If they test negative, they will be asked to remain in home quarantine for seven days following which they will take a test on the 8th day and will continue to monitor their health for the next 7 days.

- The government has listed — South Africa, China, the United Kingdom, European countries, Bangladesh, Brazil, Botswana, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Hong Kong, Singapore and Israel on “At Risk segment.”

- Tests for passengers from "at risk" countries will be self-paid while the cost of random tests will be borne by the Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation.

- Travellers from countries excluding the 'at risk' countries will be allowed to leave the airport and shall self-monitor their health for 14 days post arrival.