Amid an alarming spike in the number of coronavirus cases in Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) revised the Standard Operating Protocol (SOP) for the international passengers arriving in the city from the UK, Brazil, Europe, South Africa and the Middle East.
According to new rules, the BMC officials will check on these international passengers twice a week during the mandatory institutional quarantine period at their hotels.
After a list is received regarding the number of passengers arriving at the airport, a team from the respective ward office will check the quarantine centres twice a week, the guideline said, adding that these checks will be made preferably on the second and sixth day of the quarantine period.
Moreover, the teams need to submit a weekly report before the concerned zonal deputy municipal commissioner and additional municipal commissioner. Besides, arrangements should be made by the team of staff assigned for duty outside the airport to take the concerned passengers to the hotels of their choice by BEST buses assigned for them. The driver list of the concerned BEST bus should also be handed over.
The concerned BEST bus driver should pick up and drop off the passengers at the hotel of their choice and get the receipt of the arrival of the concerned passenger from the respective hotels. Receipts for delivery of all passengers to the hotel should then be handed over to the coordinating officer at the airport by the BEST bus driver on his return to the airport.
In case of violation of any rules or norms related to quarantine, the assistant commissioner shall take appropriate and strict action in accordance with the provisions of the Infectious Diseases Control Act, 1897, Disaster Management Act, 2005, said an official.
This development comes after BMC witnessed several instances wherein many passengers have either paid bribes to the officials on duty to escape quarantine or go missing from hotels where they are booked for institutional quarantine.
According to quarantine norms stipulated by the civic body of Mumbai, passengers arriving from the above-mentioned countries (which have seen variants of the coronavirus) are to be quarantined in hotels for seven days after their arrival and then allowed to leave only after they test negative for Covid-19 on the seventh day and complete the remaining seven days of isolation at home.
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