Quarantine guidelines for air travellers arriving in Andhra Pradesh

The Andhra Pradesh government has recently revised the quarantine guidelines for those arriving in the state. The state government issued certain relaxations on the domestic air passengers travelling to the state. According to the COVID Instant Order 64, released by the Health, Medical and Family Welfare Department of the state, domestic air travellers will be allowed to home quarantine for 14 days after taking swab tests at airports.

Guidelines were passed to test randomly 10% of the people arriving in Andhra Pradesh via domestic flights. It was further directed in the order to focus on testing senior citizens and children (less than 10 years). In line with the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Andhra Pradesh government stated that institutional quarantine is compulsory for the foreign returnees for a period of seven days. As of now, the people from Gulf Countries are being quarantined for fourteen days. The foreign returnees may be tested for the virus between the 5th and 7th day of their arrival. Based on the test results, follow up action will be initiated. The order directed the respective district collectors to re-examine these quarantined people/groups if deemed necessary. With COVID-19 cases on the rise in Telangana and Karnataka States, the AP state government categorised them as high-risk areas in the same order.

The authorities have revised the guidelines for quarantine for passengers arriving in Andhra Pradesh via road and railways too. E-passes via Spandana are compulsory for passengers entering Andhra Pradesh. A QR code on the passes will furbish information of arrival and departure details of the traveller. These details will be passed onto the ward secretariat employees for easier tracking.

Meanwhile, the total number of coronavirus cases count went up to 38,044 in Andhra Pradesh, as 2,593 individuals tested positive for the virus between Tuesday and Wednesday.