Telangana government relaxes quarantine norms for international passengers

Hyderabad: The Telangana government has relaxed the quarantine conditions for passengers traveling on Vande Bharat or Air Transport Bubble flights, which means that asymptomatic foreign passengers flying to Hyderabad can now go home if they meet the government's requirements.

According to the latest guidelines released by the State Government in compliance with the order of the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Union, passengers traveling on business trips to Telangana with return tickets within four days of their arrival will not be quarantined if they reveal their negative RT-PCR test report carried out within 96 hours of departure.

Similarly, any asymptomatic passengers traveling with a negative RT-PCR test report within 96 hours of departure will be excluded from institutional quarantine, but must undergo 14 days of home quarantine.

Special consideration of 14 days of home quarantine has been imposed for some types of asymptomatic passengers without a negative RT-PCR test result. This includes pregnant mothers, parents traveling with children 10 years or older, and those traveling in medical emergencies.

However, the rest of the asymptomatic passengers without negative RT-PCR test results will have to undergo seven days of institutional quarantine followed by home quarantine.

Currently, Rajiv Gandhi International Airport is linked to the United Kingdom and the UAE under Air Bubble Agreements. British Airways has resumed operations between Hyderabad and London four times a week, while the other airlines operating between Hyderabad and the UAE – Etihad, Emirates and Flydubai – are likely to resume operations shortly, according to a press release from RGIA.

Apart from these, the airport handles charter flights under the Vande Bharat Project , which includes flights from Air India and other international airlines. From the time of the lockdown to the present, more than 55,000 Indian citizens stranded in different countries have been brought to the region, while more than 10,000 people of different nationalities have departed from Hyderabad to different countries.

International departures at the airport are being treated via the completely sanitized Interim International Departures Terminal with thermal screening and social differences in place, the release added