If you are stuck outside India due to COVID-19 pandemic and want to come back to India, you will be allowed only by following the standard operating procedures (SOPs) issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Tuesday.
According to the SOP, passengers will travel on their own cost and will have to download the ArogyaSetu app as well. Passengers will also be quarantined as arranged by the state governments for 14 days before leaving for their homes if they are fit and have no symptoms.
All such Indians will have to register themselves with the Indian Missions in the country where they are stranded along with necessary details as prescribed by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). They will travel to India by non-scheduled commercial flights and, Naval ships.
"Priority will be given to compelling cases in distress, including migrant workers/labourers who have been laid off, short term visa holders faced with an expiry of visas, persons with medical emergency/pregnant women/elderly, those required to return to India due to death of the family member, and students," said the MHA.
MEA will designate State/UT wise nodal officers for co-ordination and will display with at least two days notice, the schedule (day, place and time of arrival) of the incoming flight/ship, on their online digital platform.
"Before boarding, all travellers shall give an undertaking that they would undergo mandatory institutional quarantine for a minimum period of 14 days on arrival in India, at their own cost. All travellers will also be required to give an undertaking that they are making the journey at their own risk," the ministry said.
The Union Home Ministry has said that at the time of boarding the flight/ship, the MEA will facilitate thermal screening as per the health protocol. Only asymptomatic travellers would be allowed to board the flight/ship.
"On arrival, thermal screening, as per health protocol, would be carried out in respect of all the passengers by the health officials present at the airport/seaport/landport. All passengers shall be asked to download ArogyaSetu app on their mobile devices. The passengers found to be symptomatic during screening shall be immediately taken to the medical facility as per health protocol," the MHA said in its SOP.
The remaining passengers shall be taken to suitable institutional quarantine facilities, to be arranged by the respective State/UT governments. These facilities may be as far as possible in the district headquarters of the district to which the arriving passengers belong.
"These passengers shall be kept under institutional quarantine for a minimum period of 14 days. If they test negative after 14 days, they will be allowed to go home and will undertake self-monitoring of their health for 14 more days as per protocol. The remaining persons will be shifted to the medical facility by the State/UT government," said the Home Ministry.
( With inputs from ANI )