Mumbai mandates quarantine for travellers from at-risk nations; civic body to check in on quarantined arrivals 5 times a day

The WWR will send medical teams and an ambulance to mark their presence regularly

With Omicron threat compounding, the Mumbai civic body has come out with unique, comprehensive and strict home quarantine norms, which include calling up people arriving from high-risk countries five times a day and visits by medical teams with ambulances.

After the successful 'Dharavi Model' during the first wave, 'Mumbai Model' during the second wave, this is yet another initiative in India’s financial capital.

The new rules were announced by the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Saturday.

“The BMC has introduced a very unique and strict home quarantine monitoring mechanism for international passengers arriving from risk countries. It will be as effective as institutional quarantine. Our objective is to prevent the possible spread of the Omicron variant in Mumbai,” Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal said.

Subsequent to the guidelines by the Centre and Maharashtra government, seven days home quarantine has been prescribed for people arriving from “at-risk” countries.

Also read: Bengaluru doctor infected with Omicron doing fine

Every day, the Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) will communicate with the Disaster Management Unit and share a list of international travellers arriving at Mumbai from “at-risk countries’ and “high-risk countries”, and those who have visited such countries in the last 15 days.

The list, however, will only include the names of passengers who reside in Mumbai.

After receiving the list, the Disaster Management Cell will send it to the 24 administrative wards based on their address. From there, the Ward War Rooms (WWR) will track, test and start contact tracing.

Teams in WWRs will dial people in home quarantine at least five times a day to monitor their health. It will monitor whether those who are in quarantine are indeed following the rules and if need be, counsel them and address their concerns.

Besides, medical teams will be sent regularly with ambulances to check whether passengers are complying with rules. On Day 7 of home quarantine, WWRs will ensure passengers take an RT-PCR test.

The WWRs would be adequately staffed and would have multiple functional communication lines and 10 ambulances at disposal.

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