Passengers flying from UAE to Mumbai are exempt from 7-day home quarantine

The new travel rules will come into effect from midnight on Monday

Passengers from the UAE to Mumbai do not have to undergo mandatory home quarantine, according to the BMC. AFP

Passengers travelling from the UAE to Mumbai no longer have to quarantine at home for seven days.

According to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the civic body of Mumbai, the mandatory home quarantine for all international passengers will not be reinforced for travellers from the UAE.

The new procedure will come into effect starting midnight on Monday.

As the UAE is not designated as an "at-risk" country by authorities, travellers will not need to undergo further PCR testing for Covid-19 on arrival in Mumbai either.

However, travellers may be subject to further testing on arrival, with authorities saying 2 per cent of all arriving passengers will be randomly selected for a PCR test at the airport. There will also be thermal screening by health officials in airports across the country.

India revised its travel guidelines for anyone flying into the country from overseas earlier this year, owing to an exponential rise in cases of the Omicron variant.

Passengers travelling from the UAE to Mumbai must still have a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours of the flight. They also need to to upload the results to the Air Suvidha portal before boarding.

Travellers from other countries must quarantine at home for seven days. On day eight, travellers will take a PCR test and upload the results of the test to the Air Suvidha portal. If the results are negative, quarantine ends, but passengers must continue to monitor their symptoms for the next seven days.