Goa issues fresh guidelines for travellers in wake of Omicron rise

The Goa government has laid down new rules for domestic and international travellers. The tightened security is a result of the rise in cases of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, across the country. Previously, the government had issues guidelines that specifically applied to international passengers from the 12 ‘high-risk’ countries.

All International passengers to be scrutinised

All international travellers arriving in Goa will be thermally screened by the Airport Health Organisation. They will also have to produce the Self-Declaration form, after having filled it online.

Passengers from High-Risk countries (Countries in Europe including The United Kingdom, South Africa, Brazil, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Hong Kong and Israel) will have to follow additional protocols. This includes:

Submission of sample for Covid test, the cost of which will be borne by the passenger. After the test, the passenger will be required to await for the result at the airport, before leaving on embarking a connecting flight.
If the test is negative, they will have to follow home quarantine for 7 days, followed by a retest. If that also comes negative, they will have to further self-monitor their health for another 7 days.
If the test is positive, they will be kept and managed at a separate isolation facility.

Moreover, 2% of all international travellers, barring asymptomatic children below 5 years of age, shall also be tested at random, and will also be subjected to the aforementioned protocol. These passengers will preferably be from different countries.

Domestic travellers require negative test report

All domestic travellers will have to produce a negative covid test report, taken not more than 72 hours before the time of arrival. The report could be of RT-PCR/ TrueNat/CBNAAT, Rapid Angen Test or any other test as approved by ICMR.

For passengers arriving from Kerala, they have to follow additional guidelines listed below:

Students and employees from Kerala will have to undertake a 5 day institutional quarantine, provided by their respective office/school/college etc. At the end of the 5 days, they will have to take an RT-PCR test.
Passengers who’re not students or employees will have to undergo a 5 day home quarantine
Children below 2 years old, constitutional functionaries, health care professionals and their spouses, travellers in transit from and to Kerala, and travellers in dire emergency situations like a family member’s demise, shall be exempted from the quarantine.