Covid-19: UK passengers travelling to Delhi must follow these rule

Chaotic scenes were witnessed at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport on Friday with many UK passengers vociferously complaining about the state government's belated decision to make seven-day institutional quarantine compulsory for them, irrespective of their Covid-19 test results.

Passenger flights from the UK to India resumed in limited numbers on Friday after remaining suspended for 16 days over the emergence of a new coronavirus variant in the UK.

Read: Arvind Kejriwal announces guidelines for travellers arriving in Delhi from UK

To contain the chaos, the Delhi government tightened protocols for all the travellers arriving from the UK, the details are as follows:

1. Travellers coming to Delhi from the United Kingdom will have to undergo a seven-day institutional quarantine even if they test negative for Covid-19.

2. Passengers must go through RT-PCR tests both in the UK and India.

3. Negative RT-PCR test report has to be uploaded via a self-reporting form on the Air Suvidha Portal on www.newdelhiairport.in before boarding the flight from the UK.

4. The RT-PCR test must be conducted within 72 hours before undertaking the journey

5. The cost of the test and lounge at the Delhi Airport is Rs 3,400 per person and shall be incurred by the passenger.

6. Waiting time for the test results at T3 may take up to 10 hours

So far, 13 Delhi residents have tested positive for the mutant variant of Covid-19 that was first detected in the UK.

On December 23, the central government had suspended flight services from the UK. According to an SOP issued by the Health Ministry earlier this month, all passengers coming from the UK between January 8 and January 30 would be subjected to self-paid Covid-19 tests on arrival.