India's new Covid-19 quarantine rules anger travellers

Indians tell of how home isolation will limit their plans for their already short holiday trips

A health worker takes a swab sample for the coronavirus from a policeman as pilgrims begin arriving for the Hindu religious festival of Gangasagar Mela on Sagar Island, about 150 kilometres south of Kolkata, West Bengal. AFP

A health worker collects a swab sample from a traveller at a railway station to test for the coronavirus before allowing him to enter Mumbai, India. AP

A woman receives a dose of the Covishield vaccine against the coronavirus at a centre in New Delhi, India. Reuters

A health worker collects a swab sample from a traveller at a railway station to test for the coronavirus before allowing her to enter Mumbai, India. AP

A health worker prepares a Covishield vaccine shot at a temple complex in Hyderabad, India. AP

A health worker collects a swab sample from a woman to test for the coronavirus at a community hall in Hyderabad. AFP

A health worker takes a swab sample from a policeman at a coronavirus testing station before the Magh Mela festival in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. AFP

A health worker collects a swab sample from a man at a railway station in New Delhi, India. Reuters

International travellers and returning expatriates to India have expressed their dismay over the government’s new week-long mandatory quarantine for everyone.

The country has revised its travel guidelines amid a massive spike in infection cases blamed on the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

Authorities imposed quarantine rules on all international arrivals from Tuesday, amending its previous regulations that mandated seven-day home isolation only for passengers arriving from the “at-risk” list of countries.

Incoming travellers are also required to upload their Covid-19 PCR test results on a government portal to be monitored by regional authorities on the eighth day, while continually monitoring their health for another week.

Those passengers found symptomatic during the screening will be isolated and taken to a medical facility. If positive, their samples would be sent for genome sequencing to confirm the Omicron strain.

India is witnessing a massive surge in Covid-19 cases with more than 194,000 fresh cases and 442 deaths on Wednesday, as per the ministry of health.

Nearly 4,900 cases of Omicron were also confirmed.

The revised guidelines by the Indian government for inbound arrivals is aimed at curbing the spread of the highly-transmissible strain that was first detected in South Africa in November.

But the new rules have left many visitors angry and dismayed.

Shantanu Bhamare from Sydney in Australia was planning to visit on January 14 to attend his brother’s wedding.

The 26-year-old electrical engineer left India three years ago and has not seen his family since the pandemic.

When the restrictions eased, his family fixed the wedding date so that Mr Bhamare could fly in and attend the celebrations.

But the revised isolation rule means he will have to skip all the events as his mandatory home quarantine ends after the wedding day.

“I think the government should rethink about these rules. International travellers are providing 72-hours pre-departure RT-PCR test results to the government which is sufficient to show the person is not infected,” Mr Bhamare said.

The updated rules will also be a dampener for those who have made elaborate plans with families after not meeting them in years, said Javed Shaikh.

The IT professional, 29, had last met his parents in 2019. His daughter has since turned three years old.

He was thrilled to be finally visiting his parents in February, but the one-week isolation means his month-long holiday plans have been cut short.

“We are planning for a four-week trip but now one week will be wasted due to home quarantine,” Mr Shaikh said.

“We are also planning for interstate travels within India with our families but I think we won’t be able to do that now…we are in a dilemma,” Mr Shaikh told The National.