Jahangeer Ganaie
Srinagar, Dec 3: Amid the threat of a new Covid variant, authorities have made the RT-PCR test mandatory for all international arrivals at Srinagar International Airport and samples of positive cases must be sent for genome sequencing.
Moreover, authorities have asked the people arriving from “At-Risk” nations to remain in home quarantine for seven days after testing negative for Covid-19, besides persons coming from not at risk nations after testing negative must monitor themselves for at least two weeks carefully.
An order issued by State Executive Committee under section 24 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, reads that rigorous screening and conduct of Covid-19 RT-PCR test shall be made mandatory at the Srinagar International Airport for International arrivals as per the guidelines issued from time to time by MoHFW.
“Any person found Covid19 positive shall be quarantined (Institutional) and treated as per standard protocol. The samples of positive cases shall be sent to the designated INSACOG Genome Sequencing Laboratories (IGSLs) promptly, as per the India SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) guidance document and close tracking and testing of the contacts of travellers who have tested positive, as per MoHFW guidelines shall be adhered to,” the order reads.
“Designated Surveillance Officers must establish a close coordination with their designated, tagged INSACOG Genome Sequencing Laboratories (IGSLs) for expediting results of genomic analysis and necessary public health measures should be taken in case of presence of variants of concern or variants of interest (VOCs/Vols) is reported by the INSACOG network,” it said.
The order said that people from “At-Risk” nations, who test negative, will however, have to be in home quarantine for 7 days.
“They should be tested again on day 8 and if test negative, shall be advised to monitor themselves carefully for at least 02 weeks and travellers coming from countries considered not at risk and whose samples have tested negative should be advised to monitor themselves carefully for at least 02,” it said.
“The Principle of “Test-Track-Treat-Vaccinate” shall be implemented in order to ensure stringent implementation of containment measures as per MoHFW guidelines and to prevent the spread of variants of concern or variants of interest (VoC/Vol) and formation of clusters of cases,” the order said.
