No COVID-19 test for children below five years traveling to India: Health Ministry
According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, children below five years of age are exempted from both pre-arrival and post-arrival tests on arrival in India. However, if they are found symptomatic for COVID-19 on arrival or during the home quarantine period, they will have to undergo testing and treatment as per protocol.
“Children below 5 years of age are exempted from both pre-arrival and post-arrival tests. However, if found to be symptomatic for COVID-19 on arrival or during the home quarantine period, they Will have to undergo tests and be treated as per the prescribed protocol.” Guidelines of the Ministry on November 11.
The Health Ministry said that in view of the increasing vaccination coverage across the world and the changing nature of the pandemic, the guidelines for international arrivals in India have been reviewed.
“The global trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to decline with some regional variations. The ever-changing nature of the virus and the need to monitor the development of SARS-CoV-2 variants (VOCs) of concern should still be taken into account,” guidelines said.
The Ministry said that this Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) will be valid from November 12 (00.00 hrs IST) till further orders.
The revised guidelines also state that 15 days must have elapsed since the completion of the COVID-19 vaccination programme.
On arrival, de-boarding to ensure physical distancing and thermal screening of all passengers should be done by the health officials present at the airport.
Contacts of suspected cases are co-passengers seated in the same row, plus three rows ahead and three rows ahead, with identified cabin crew. In addition, all community contacts of passengers who test positive shall be subjected to quarantine for 14 days and tested as per the protocol of the Indian Council of Medical Research, the guidelines stated.
(with inputs from ANI)
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