Amid the fear of new COVID-19 Omicron variant, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to trace travellers who arrived in Mumbai from ‘countries of concern’ in the last two weeks.
However, if any of the passengers who have arrived from the countries of concern tests positive, they will be subjected to institutional quarantine and their samples will be sent for genome sequencing.
The civic body has said that they have sourced such data from authorities at Mumbai airport and are now starting to trace such passengers and test them for the new variant.
Moreover, an advisory has been issued requesting citizens to take more precautions.
Besides, the civic body said that all international passengers arriving at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) would be made to undergo mandatory RT-PCR testing for coronavirus, and if found positive, would be sent to an institutional quarantine centre.
The BMC had also said that the travel history of all international passengers would be verified through their passports on arrival. However, in all this, the BMC officials have said that tracing and testing those passengers who have already arrived in the city also becomes crucial.
However, experts have said that citizens do not need to panic but continue following COVID-appropriate behaviour.
Dr Shashank Joshi, a member of State COVID-19 task force, took to Twitter and said, “Nothing to worry about. Just be alert vigilant and follow all guidelines.”
According to BMC, countries of concern include South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Mozambique, Australia, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, UK, Israel, Hong Kong, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, Scotland along with some Middle Eastern countries.
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