The rising fears of the Omicron variant spread in India have prompted the Centre to take several precautionary COVID-19 measures and issue fresh international travel guidelines for passengers hailing from at-risk countries.
After these new travel guidelines were issued by the Centre, photos of crowds gathered at airports and flouting social distancing norms went viral on social media. This led residents to fear that airports might emerge as new COVID-19 hotspots if the crowding continues.
Keeping the crowding at airports in mind, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has decided to issue an action plan to maintain smooth operations at all the international airports, all the while following guidelines issued amid Omicron threat properly.
Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia held a meeting on Tuesday with concerned authorities and representatives from several international airports. The minister then issued an 8-point action plan for all airports that are to be followed to control crowding amid rising Omicron fears.
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…ramping up help desks & forex counters, along with seamless floor management. Rest assured, @MoCA_GoI is monitoring the situation on a daily basis & passengers shall not face any inconvenience at airports.
— Jyotiraditya M. Scindia (@JM_Scindia) December 7, 2021
Scindia took to Twitter and said, “Took stock of the preparedness, testing capacities, and the situation on the ground with regard to crowd management at both private and @AAI_Official airports.”
The civil aviation minister further said, “Have put an action plan with eight compliances on immigration queues, expanding RT-PCR service providers, ramping up help desks and forex counters, along with seamless floor management.”
“Rest assured, the Ministry of Civil Aviation is monitoring the situation on a daily basis and passengers shall not face any inconvenience at airports,” Jyotiraditya Scindia added.
The Omicron variant was detected over two weeks ago in South Africa, after which cases were reported from several countries. In view of the increasing threat regarding the new COVID-19 variant, the Centre had decided to monitor the passengers coming from at-risk countries closely.
The new international travel guidelines include mandatory RT-PCR tests for passengers coming from at-risk countries, and they are required to wait at the airport till the time the test results are prepared. This led to major crowding at several major airports, including Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport.
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