The Delhi government on Thursday made it mandatory to undergo 14 days of institutional quarantine for people travelling from Telangana and Andhra citing a new variant of COVID-19. This applies to all people, irrespective of mode of transport that people used for travelling. However, those who have been administered both doses of any COVID-19 vaccine or carry a negative RT-PCR test report not older than 72 hours prior to undertaking the journey, will be required to be home quarantined for seven days, the Government Order said.
People who have received the two doses will have to present the vaccination certificate, it said. The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) stated in the order that a virulent variant of COVID-19 is reported to have been found recently in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
The new strain of COVID-19 has a shorter incubation period with high transmission rate and the progress of disease is much more rapid in this strain, it said. Therefore, additional precautionary measures with respect to people coming from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to Delhi through flights, trains, buses or cars are required to be taken, it said.
"All persons arriving from the state of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in NCT of Delhi by airlines, trains, buses, cars, trucks or any other mode of transportation shall have to undergo mandatory government institutional quarantine or paid quarantine for 14 days at facilities established by the concerned district magistrate," stated the order.
Resident commissioners of concerned state bhawans will be responsible for ensuring the compliance of instructions for quarantine in case of those reaching there, the DDMA order said. Similarly, owners of hotels, guest houses and such facilities will be responsible for compliance of the order if people from the two states stay there, it added.
The concerned district magistrates in the national capital will ensure compliance of instructions in the order and take necessary action as per health protocol, SOPs prevailing in Delhi with regard to screening, testing, home quarantine, isolation, surveillance of such people, the order said.
The order has come into place with immediate effect, according to reports a new variant of COVID-19 has been exposed by the Hyderabad based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB). The new variant is said to have a shorter incubation period and high transmission rate. The progress of the disease is much faster in this strain.
(With inputs from PTI)