Thermal screening for all international travellers from tomorrow: Govt

NEW DELHI: All international travellers arriving in India will have to undergo thermal screening at the airports from Saturday. If any passenger is found to be symptomatic for Covid-19, she or he will be immediately isolated and taken to a designated medical facility as per the health protocol, the health ministry said in its latest guidelines on Thursday.
China, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, the US, and France are witnessing a sustained increase in Covid-19 infections.
The guidelines says all travellers should preferably be vaccinated as per the approved primary schedule of vaccination against Covid-19 in their respective countries. During travel, the guidelines mandate, in-flight announcement about precautionary measures should be followed (use of masks and physical distancing).
"Any passenger having symptoms of Covid-19 during travel shall be isolated as per standard protocol ... and shifted to an isolation facility for follow-up treatment," it says.
As per the guidelines, physical distancing will have to be maintained while de-boarding. "Thermal screening should be done for all passengers by health officials present at the points of entry. The passengers found to be symptomatic during screening shall be immediately isolated, taken to a designated facility as per health protocol," it says.
It also mandated a random post arrival testing of 2% of the total passengers in the flight. "They will submit the samples and shall be allowed to leave the airport thereafter. If such travellers' samples are tested positive, their samples should be sent for genomic testing at Insacog laboratory network," says the order.