Picture used for illustrative purpose only.

Gulf Today Report

India on Friday decided to impose a week's compulsory home quarantine on all those arriving from abroad in view of the surge in coronavirus and Omicron cases, Indian Health Ministry said.

India's daily COVID-19 cases jumped to 117,100 on Friday, a five-fold increase in a week and on course to overtake its previous infection peak as the fast-spreading Omicron variant replaces Delta in cities.

According to the national guidelines, all passengers arriving from abroad will have to undergo a RT-PCR test 8th day, and if negative, they will continue in isolation for another week. However the positive samples will be sent for genome sequencing.

For people, who have tested positive will be managed at an isolation facility and treated as per standard protocol.

Indian states have been advised to trace the contacts of these passengers.

The Indian Health Ministry said that children under the age of five are exempted from both pre-and post-arrival testing.

Indian government officials have privately said they are working under the assumption that daily infections will surpass the record of more than 414,000 set in May, given what has happened in countries such as the United States where daily cases recently rose past 1 million.