Ajay Anand was just one of many travellers caught off-guard by the sudden rule-change.
With the spread of Omicron raising alarm bells across the nation, Tamil Nadu has mandated week-long home quarantine for all international passengers landing in the state starting today.
The new ruling includes travellers from both at-risk and non at-risk countries. The state government tweaked their previous guideline after data revealed that the bulk of Tamil Nadu's 34 reported Omicron cases are passengers from countries classified as non at-risk. Only six per cent of the state's Omicron cases are from at-risk countries, while 25 per cent come from non at-risk countries, said a statement from the Tamil Nadu Health Department.
Ajay Anand, an electronics engineer working in the US, was just one of many travellers caught off-guard by the sudden rule-change. Only right before take-off did the young man from Coimbatore learn about the new state rules. "Its good to check the spread in every way. But for many like me who are coming on a short vacation, it's difficult. Our plans go for a toss," he told NDTV.
Saravanan and Swathi, returning from Sydney with their young son, also learnt of the ruling last minute. However, relatively unbothered, Swathi said, "We are only visiting our parents, so this doesn't upset our plans."
Saravanan and Swathi, returning from Sydney after three years, welcomed the new Covid rule.
The state has also directed international airports in Tamil Nadu to increasing random sampling of passengers from non at-risk countries by five-fold, to 10 per cent from the present 2 per cent.
Tamil Nadu's daily COVID-19 tally hovers around 600 cases, with Chennai and Coimbatore accounting for the bulk of new positive infections.
On Sunday, Chief Minister MK Stalin visited government hospitals and reviewed the state's preparedness in terms of available beds, ICUs, oxygen supply, ambulances and war rooms. The state government says it has 1.15 lakh beds ready in government and private hospitals, in addition to 50,000 beds in Covid care centres.
Tamil Nadu, which witnessed a severe oxygen shortage during the peak of the second wave, now has several hospitals that receives an additional 244 MT liquid oxygen every day from 222 oxygen plants. There is also a storage facility to hold 1731 MT liquid oxygen in the state, in addition to the 25000 B and D type oxygen cylinders it possesses.
Till date, 55 per cent of the state's eligible 18+ population has taken both doses while 85 per cent is vaccinated with a single dose.