In a relief for international passengers who have to take connecting flights on reaching India, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has announced that rapid COVID-19 tests will be conducted in the airport itself for these passengers. The test results will be given anywhere between 1.5 and 7 hours, and passengers who test negative can directly take their next flight without having to quarantine in the city of arrival. This means that passengers without an RT-PCR already with them, should plan their flights with the required time gap needed.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation announced this in a notification issued on Wednesday. This applies to international passengers who arrive in India by air without a RT-PCR (Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) negative certificate granted in the preceding 96 hours, and want to take a connecting domestic flight.
A sample collection cum waiting lounge will be created by Airport operators, and protocols established by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) will be strictly followed while testing and sample collections are done. One representative of the state authorities will be also present in the waiting lounge at the entry airport, the notification said.
Passengers will have an option to make an online booking for the RT-PCR tests. A help desk will be set up by the airport operator to escort them safely from the airport. If the test results are negative the passenger will be stamped RT-PCR negative and will be permitted to catch the connecting domestic flight while his or her passport will be handed over to the state authority present in the lounge. If the results are positive, the passenger will be processed in line with applicable ICMR protocols by the state authorities.
The waiting lounge will follow all the sanitisation and social distancing guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and will be set up away from the operational area. The lounge will contain all the necessary amenities like washrooms, WiFi, food and beverages with cashless options for making payment.
The test results might take 1.5 hours to 2 hours for RT-PCR by Gene-Xpert and 6-7 hours for RT-PCR by other methods, the notification said. So the passengers will have an option to either stay in the waiting lounge or isolate themselves in hotels till the test results are out. But no passenger will be allowed to make an unauthorized exit.