Kerala Govt Issues Revised Guidelines For International Arrivals

The Govt of Kerala last week issued revised guidelines for travelers coming to Kerala in the context of SARS CoV-2 Variant OMICRON.

The Health and Family Welfare Department of Govt. of Kerala in its revised guidelines requested international passengers to maintain consistency in the approaches related to vulnerability reduction and spread of COVID-19.

Especially due to Omicron by taking into consideration the stipulations applied for all categories of the mobile population- local, domestic and international especially in the scenario of omicron becoming the dominant infection.

The health department also said that the latest guidelines are modified to facilitate safe travel and also emphasize precautions.

It is appealed to all international travelers the guidelines should be strictly followed for their own safety and the safety of family and society.

The Guidelines For International Travelers Coming To Kerala

1. Any international traveler (irrespective of the duration of stay in Kerala) coming to Kerala will undergo symptom surveillance. if symptomatic, she/he will undertake an RT-PCR test at cost and take further actions as per the test results.

2. Random testing of 2 percent of international travelers in the flight irrespective of country of departure to be done free of cost (The State shall bear the cost of the test) and the selection of the passengers to be done by Airlines officers.

3. Home Quarantine is advisable for international travelers. They must continue self-health monitoring for seven days from the arrival date and, if symptoms develop, shall undergo testing. They shall follow strict covid-19 appropriate behavior. It is advisable to avoid attending congregation, closed spaces gathering, and crowding.

4. The samples of all international travelers who are tested RT-PCR positive shall be sent for Whole Genomic Sequencing.

5. The treatment of COVID-19 positive travelers is to be done as per the existing guidelines.

6. COVID-19 testing using Rapid Antigen Test on the 8th day of arrival is advisable for the safety of the passenger.

7. All International Passengers are advised to follow the guidelines to enable them to abide by the stipulations regarding safe international travel by the respective countries they plan to visit.