Passengers who test negative will now have to be home quarantined for 14 days (Representational)
Passengers arriving from the UK will not be sent to mandatory institutional quarantine if they test negative for coronavirus, the Delhi government announced today.
The passengers who test negative after the RT-PCR test will now have to be home quarantined only for 14 days.
Earlier, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had announced a seven-day mandatory institutional quarantine for UK passengers followed by a seven-day home quarantine after flights from Britain resumed after a two-week ban earlier this month.
The decision by the Delhi government was taken amid concerns about a mutant fast-spreading strain of the coronavirus that emerged in Britain.
"To protect Delhiites from exposure to virus from UK, Delhi government takes important decisions. All those arriving from UK, who test positive will be isolated in an isolation facility. Negative ones will be taken to a quarantine facility for seven days followed by 7 days home quarantine," Arvind Kejriwal had tweeted.
The central government had suspended services between the two countries on December 23 over the new and more contagious strain of the virus. Many major European countries like France, Spain and Germany had also extended the ban.
Mr Kejriwal had earlier urged the Centre to extend the flights ban till January 31 because of the "extremely serious" COVID situation in the UK.
SOPs released by the government for passengers from the UK requires them to take self-paid COVID-19 tests on arrival. Passengers also must carry COVID-19 negative reports from a test done 72 hours before their journey. They have to quarantine for 14 days even if they test negative on arrival, a rule that is now in sync with the Delhi government.
Maharashtra had also declared seven days of institutional quarantine and seven days home isolation for passengers from the UK.
93 people have tested positive at labs in Delhi for the mutant UK strain of the virus. In India, the total infections for the UK strain is at 166.